Biofreak
by Shinigami 42-42-564
Summary: Full Sum. Inside. Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. SxS
1. Insanity

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n: **Alright, I know I haven't updated in such a long time, and I am deeply sorry. For those who were reading my "The Echo of Cries and Demons", I'm sorry, but It's not . . . I'm not actually "stopping" the project, but it won't be having a consistant update . . . I should say. I'm trying to get CIS (College in Schools) for my senior year so I'm very, very busy. I mean, work, taking care of the sibs, preparing for college, all that stuff. But, to jog my memories aroundd, I have decided to make this story because . . . well . . . what's cuter than Syaoran and Sakura being the only humans left on Earth? ***blah*** just kidding. But yeah, I hope you enjoy this. As for this story, I will indeed be keeping a consistant update starting this sunday. Morre details will be posted on my profile.

**Shoutout!!**  
I just want to give a shout out to my friend, Meru, for keeping you guys updated with a story to read. I know she hasn't been consistent (she's still taking some English classes) but from what I've heard, you guys really enjoy her stories. I was very surprised to see how successful her "The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms" was as well as her "Mujou no Sakura". If you guys haven't read them yet, please do so, they are very good.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14  
Why is there an age change even though the two are the same age? I just feel that it'll make this story better, so please endure it.

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter One…  
**Insanity

* * *

My daily routine wasn't hard. First was, of course, getting up from bed. Next was cooking some breakfast to eat, and then maybe go grocery shopping for more food. After that, well my day was pretty much free. I spent that free extra hours either swimming, playing a bit of golf, or stand on top of the Tomoeda skyscraper to see the view . . . well . . . what's left of the Tomoeda skyscraper at least.

This world I look at . . . it's not what you would call a beauty. Not even close. The sky was full of pollution if clouds hung over it. The only blue skies I ever saw were either at night or in another town if I decide to ever walk that far. The buildings were almost non-existing; the only thing left were its structure—unless it was a brick house, then it would hopefully be lucky enough to be in one piece.

Now, why am I describing this world like such a crap place? Well, because it pretty much is crap. Why is it crap? God . . . where to start oh where to start.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was just a fluke. The bombs and nukes they gave away were only stalls in order to achieve what they wanted. Because it needed time, they created the atomic bombs to scare the United States, then created a standoff only to stall for their real intentions—the making of twenty hydrogen bombs.

In 2009, when the United States heard about this, they immediately took action. But like how all the other World Wars started, the allies of Cuba joined together as well as the allies for the United States did.

But it was already too late. World War Three had already started, but, this war went somewhere the Cold War did not—a nuclear war.

Cuba lifted several hydrogen bombs into the United States and Canada. United States, Canada, France, Japan, and even the UK tried to clear the bombs before they hit by sending their own missiles to try and obliterate the hydrogen bombs in the skies. But, the counterattack failed miserably. Math calculations were just not enough as the hydrogen bombs were being controlled by remote all the way through.

Less than twenty-four hours later, Canada and the United States were no more. Angered by this action, the allies of the United States took action and launched their own missiles at Cuba and its allies. This then started a chain of other nuclear bombs from other countries.

In the end, nobody won.

The nuclear war was all it took. Those who didn't get killed by a gun were killed by the bombs; those who didn't get killed by the nuclear bombs were killed by the radiations; those who didn't get killed by the radiation were sickened and got killed by the radiated food and animal or just disappeared; and those who—wait . . . that's the end of it.

How many people are still alive today? I don't know. Do I want to know? Probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to find out; all I know for sure it one thing and that is the fact that I am alive and well.

But wait, you may ask: how am I alive? True, I survived the bombs, and when the radiation hit, I wasn't affected one bit. Well actually I'm wrong. I was affected, but it was because I had to watch as my family died in front of me because of the radiation.

That's right. I am immune to the radiation. How? Why? That's what I want to know. Trust me; what you know is all that I know, so hold the questions.

"Syaoran, let's go home." said a sweet voice. I looked down from where I stood on top of the broken down skyscraper. A little girl with bright green flashy eyes and amber hair looked up at me. Her name was Sakura, Kinomoto Sakura.

I found her in a cave secured by some docks. Like me, she had to witness her family die from radiation, and like me, she, too, was immune somehow. So, since that day, six months after what I called NHE Day—Near Human Extinction Day—the two of us have lived together. I only say _Near_ Human Extinction because me and her were the only ones that I know of that are still alive in this world today.

We found ourselves a nice brick house that surprisingly hadn't been damaged. It was a nice three story house with an amazing interior. Now, how do we live by ourselves? It was simple. Because we were immune, we were able to eat the radiated foot and drink the water. So what, do we just take food from stores? Our five-finger discount is the _bomb_.

It's really hard pretending to live a normal life. I didn't want to sound like I've gone crazy by setting up a bunch of manikins and giving them names— that's just too overboard. But I do know that our insanity will take over us if we don't do something fast.

"Yeah, sure." I replied back after staring up at the sky for the most part. "What do you want to eat tonight?"

Sakura gave herself a moment to think, then said, "Fried Rice? Something simple."

I only shrugged as I jumped down beside her. "Sure thing."

She was two years younger than me and the top of her head only reached up to my chin, if you were wondering. But for someone who's fourteen years old and so short, she was very strong at heart. For those six months that we've known each other, we cherished each other like we were all each other had . . . wait . . . we _are_ all that each other has . . . silly me.

But, she once told me—one day out of the blue—that there is absolutely nothing she wouldn't do for me. She even said it twice. I remembered that I made it a promise to her as well. Please, don't be shy to think about it. Yes, we did think and talk about . . . oh . . . what's an appropriate word here? Reproducing.

We both were old enough to understand this and our situation so there isn't anything to laugh about. Maybe a little embarrassing at first, but hey, look at this, we're the only two humans left on this god forsaken planet—at least I hoped not.

Anyways, that's not really my point. My point is . . . well to tell you the truth, I don't even know. I mean, that's just pretty much how our relationship is. Then why do I mention this? Because don't you think for one second that someone can live by themselves in a world where everything and everyone is dead. She's all I have and I'm all she has.

Hell, we don't even leave or enter our house unless we're together. We don't even go into another room without being by the side of the other—with the exception of the washroom that is. We do everything together, and it's the bond that we have that helps us try to live a normal life. If I didn't have her, the humans _would_ be extinct.

The sun was just starting to set. It gloomed behind me as if it was crying for me to help save its favorite planet that was just overwhelmed by the stupidity of humans. I heard Sakura yawn beside me. Her walking started to get wavy and unbalance as she rubbed her eyes. Does a fourteen year old girl still need her nap?

I stopped in front of her and knelt down. "Come on, I'll piggy-back you." I said.

It took her a moment, but she finally fell on my back as I hooked my wrists below her in support. "I'm sorry." she said. I made a little random _hugh_ sound. I didn't quite understand what she was apologizing for. "Our house is a long ways away, I'm sorry if I made you carry me."

It was true. Our house was on the other side of Tomoeda from where we were. Walking there was nothing, but supporting a girl who weighs just under a hundred can get tiring. But like what she told me, there was absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for her. But, it did bother me that she was so tired; just the past few days, she's been feeling drowsy lately. It worried me; maybe the radiation was starting to take effect? It worried me most to know that a nuclear radiation can't be cured because there was never a test for it, so no one ever even thought about trying to make a vaccine or something for nuclear radiation.

I reminded myself though: We are immune. It calmed me down every time.

The sun finally set once we reached the house. Bearing Sakura's weight started to take its affect as I slouched much lower than I had wanted to. When I got up onto the steps, Sakura slid herself down from my back. We entered our house, and took off our shoes before moving on into the kitchen.

The fried rice came out better than I had expected it. It was my fourth time making it, and I was surprised to see it come out so good even though I accidentally burned the bottom, which added a little crunch to it. But, in the end it was warm and filled us.

I set my spoon down getting ready to wash the dishes, then Sakura ran up to me with a bump and wrapped her arms around me. For a moment I tried to think about why she was doing this, but after that moment, I came up with nothing.

"I'm sorry." she said. "I promise you I'll grow stronger. Sakura will grow to be as strong as Syaoran, so then . . . Syaoran won't have to carry me a lot."

I don't know why she said all that. Did she really feel that bad about me carrying her so much? I mean, she shouldn't. I only patted her head, then quickly thought of something to say,

"But you know, you'll never be as strong as me because I'm older than you." I added a smile at the end. "And even if you did get as strong as me, I wouldn't like it because then I wouldn't be able to treat you like I do now."

"How are you treating me now?"

I knew the words I said came out wrong . . . though it was the best possible thing to say, but now I have to answer my own question.

"Remember that promise you made me?" I asked.

Sakura nodded. "There is absolutely, absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for you, Syaoran."

"I made the same promise, so please, don't feel bad about me carrying you because I will do it a hundred times a day if I have to. If you refuse to let me carry you, then I'll break your legs so that you'll then have to let me carry you."

Sakura made a dull face, then I knew that I said a bit too much. But she only laughed a second later. "Then you'd be breaking your promise to me because you'd be doing something I don't want."

I made myself giggle just once. Her arms were still wrapped around me, but I pulled us apart. "Our promise is hard to keep, isn't it?"

We agreed that it was. Sakura then vanished up the stairs. I tried to follow her because we never went into another room unless we were together, but she urged me to stay and do the dishes. She wanted to do something alone. I didn't feel comfortable letting her go upstairs alone, but I did. Besides, there were dishes to do.

The night was always calm. I'm glad we picked the house we're in because it gave me the best view of the moon while I was in our room. For some reason, the moon always seemed full—or close to it at least. It made me want to howl like a wolf sometimes because it was so beautiful. There were almost no clouds at all in the night sky and the stars flickered like lights.

After a creak in the door caught my attention, I turned from the window to see Sakura in pink and yellow pajamas rubbing her damp hair with a towel. She had just finished bathing.

"Another night." she said.

"Yup." I said. "And soon to be another morning."

She crawled into her mat and threw her head facedown into her pillow. She then turned to me with a yawn. "Any plans for tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "Maybe sleep in? I don't know." I crawled into my own mat right next to hers and lied on my side. Our eyes met with a solemn and melancholy expression.

Sure, we tried to live a normal life . . . oh do we try. But in the end, at the end of the day, we just can't get away from reality . . . the truth. Our world is dead. No matter how much I want to think that it's all just a dream, it wasn't. Our world is dead and the two of us are the only ones left on this planet. Because why? Because we, for some god damn reason, are immune to nuclear radiation.

I inched closer to Sakura until our foreheads met. Then held the back of her head with a hand, scratching her like I would a cat and then getting ready to do what we've been doing for the past six months. Slowly, a tear fell from her eyes, then another followed instantly. Before one would be able to plan for it, Sakura was crying. I held her tightly, her head crying into my chest. She cried for everything and everyone she knew. She cried for her mother, her father, her brother, her friends, and her cousins. Even though I didn't know them, I was starting to wish I did because they were so important to her.

Now, I was all she had left. I would never be enough to cherish her the way her family and friends did.

It all hurt me.

But, knowing that I can't do anything to help her, hurt me the most; for six months, she would cry before sleeping, and for six months I would let her cry on me until she slept peacefully—because that was all I was able to do. Then I would get up, stare out the window again and cry to myself and mumble one thing before I yearned for sleep.

"Please . . . if someone's out there, tell me."

I crawled into Sakura's mat with her and flung an arm around her, securing her in my arms, not wanting to let go of the only thing I had left to care for. Then, before I knew it, I was asleep.

This is my usual day.

I, Li Syaoran, and the person I cherish most, Kinomoto Sakura, are the only ones alive on Earth.

At least . . . I hope not.

* * *

**So yeah. This is pretty much the start of it. A little bit of "what happened" and "how it all began" and stuff like that. The real moments . . . are about to begin.  
Keep in touch *wink*!  
Profile _is_ updated. Towards the middle of it, you'll see when we plan to update weekly.  
And! My new favorite anime ;) (on my top 10 list that is)**


	2. Corruption

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:**Alrighty, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it ;)

**Review Reply:  
ZivIaN: **I really did ponder about that for a moment. But then I figured that if I made Syaoran too old while Sakura still is 14, then I would probably make it sound like they have a brothe & sister relationship which . . . I don't think any of us want that. But that's just my personal opinion. I greatly enjoyed your review, and hope you review this chapter as well. Please enjoy!

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14  
**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Two…  
**Corruption

* * *

Another morning broke, another day to live.

That's how I always thought about it. I was never sure if every day I was alive after NHE Day was a blessing or a curse. Should I feel blessed that someone was watching over me and wanted me to live? Or was it a curse that made me live because someone wanted me to feel pain. If it was a curse, then did everyone who died get a blessing?

Sometimes I wished—now this may seem wrong but—sometimes I wished that I were dead watching over the me who was still alive. Would I feel jealous because I was dead? Or would I feel happy because I wasn't stranded alone?

My . . . there's just too many questions—too many questions that I would never get answered.

"So tired . . ." I said to myself as I looked into the mirror.

The shower I took was a fast one. Usually I'd soak myself for about twenty minutes, leaving me with a forty minute shower, but this time it only took me ten minutes. I thought that a shower would be able to wake me up, but I was wrong. In fact, the shower seemed to only make me even more tired—which would be the reason why I took a quick one.

I examined my face, trying to see if my radiated body had some kind of physical change. It didn't. And other than slowly running insanity through me, I hadn't changed mentally either. I still thought the same and think about the same things.

The door flung open and immediately, I turned with a flush of red on my face. There Sakura was, standing and staring at me while I had nothing but a towel on. Her face was just as red as mine. She had done a two take before finally closing her eyes.

Normally, like anyone would do, I expected her to jump out the door and slam it behind her. But either she was too stunned to do it or didn't come up with it.

"S—S—S—Syaoran, I'm sorry!" she stammered. "I—I—I—"

"What are you doing in here?" I finally said, trying to keep my voice in a calm and mannered tone. One of the many things that I would never do was raise my voice at her.

"I—I—" she kept her eyes closed, but this time turned off to the side. "Y—you were supposed to put a cloth over the knob . . . our lock is broken remember?"

"But I did!" I assured her.

Sakura quickly turned around and saw the cloth I talked of flat on the ground. She turned towards me and blushed again. "S—s—sorry!" as quickly as she reacted, she jumped out slamming the door behind her.

I only sighed. "Clumsy, clumsy girl."

When I got dressed, I jotted down the stairs and into the living area where Sakura was watching one of her favorite anime's on DVD. If I was right, she was watching Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. I never got into it, but I did find it amusing how the two main characters had both of our names. I guess it was the reason why Sakura enjoyed it so much. It was an old anime, but Sakura watched it as if it were brand new.

Now that I thought . . . I never really got into anime at all. I guess I'm more of a manga type of person.

Sakura hadn't noticed that I was within the room yet. She sat on a couch with hands on her laps like she was drained into the show. Now that I look at her closer, she really was.

I took my time and snuck up behind Sakura. I opened my arms and closed them around her neck, holding her in a headlock. She struggled to get out, but I overpowered her plenty. The one thing that I can't help but to always notice about Sakura was how soft her skin was. Pale and as soft to touch like a baby. Sometimes I had to keep myself from pulling and pinching her.

"Promise to look for a cloth before you intrude again?" I said with a deadly tone.

She still thrashed weakly in my arms but managed to say, "Y—yeah, I promi—let me go, Syaoran!"

I did so, but not before pinching and pulling on her sweet soft and luscious cheek. She cried in pain but I only laughed as I entered the dining area.

An empty plate with rice and egg crumbs sat in the sink. Sakura had already ate, which was a surprise because we usually ate together.

"You ate already?" I asked.

Sakura entered the room and sat across the table. "I was hungry and you wouldn't get up."

"Huh?" I stared at the oven clock and to my biggest surprise, it was noon. Usually I woke up naturally around nine, so I was very surprised to see myself sleep in so late. "Oh . . . sorry." I said.

She played with a butter knife and a single chopstick, and then looked up at me with a smile. "That's fine; I know how to cook too."

My eyes widened. Hearing that only made me wonder, _then why am I always the one to cook?_ I relayed her the message, but she shrugged and said, "I don't know . . . you always seem happy when you cook." she then stared off to the side like she did in the bathroom during out little accidental incident. "Syaoran being happy makes me happy." She glanced back and quickly added, "But Syaoran can cook much better than me any day!"

Her words struck me with delight. If I made her happy, then I could only imagine how happy her family must've made her. If I made her _this_ much happier, then her family must've made her _that_ much happier. But then, thinking about how much I couldn't do for her made me glower. Before Sakura was able to read my face, I hid it and said:

"How about tonight?"

She stared at me dumfounded. "Ho_e_?"

"You cook for us tonight."

Her expression changed like she couldn't believe what I just said. "M—me?"

I nodded. "Yeah, why not? I want to see how Sakura cooks."

Slowly, her shock turned into a smile and she nodded. "Okay!"

I started the dishes after I made myself some toast to eat. If I weren't having such a drowsy day, I'd make myself some fried eggs and bacon, then eat it in front of Sakura because all she had was eggs and rice, but unfortunately, today was really off to me.

While wiping my plate dry with a cloth, a large building caught my attention out the window. The building was easily over a hundred stories tall . . . or similar to what the twin towers were like before they were struck down by terrorists. On top of the building was a large satellite dish. Then it got to me. For some reason, it finally came to me and I didn't know why it took six months to realize it.

It was Tomoeda's radio tower.

The idea also finally hit me. The only thing that would help me figure out if anyone else is alive would be through radio contact. A tower that bit, I'd be able to contact other countries—or even broadcast something! I had to go and find out.

It took me half an hour to get read. I packed a backpack with a water bottle, flares, a flashlight, hiking hooks, a first aid kit and a ninjaken I had found several weeks ago. I hadn't used it yet, but like someone from a movie once said, "I'd rather have one and not need to use it, than need to use it and not have one." Of course, on the _it_ part, she referred to a gun, but in my case, it was an eight inch ninjaken with a deadly sharp edge and cool designs on its handles.

I urged Sakura to stay home. There wasn't anything to be scared of—I think—but I just had a bad feeling. It then made me question myself on why I was going somewhere when I had a bad feeling about it. In the end, Sakura came with me.

Downtown was where the tower was. Just like how you would imagine a zombie land to be, downtown was just like those in a movie. Cars were stacked on top of one another or on their tops. Some had nothing left of its metal structures.

When we reached the humongous building, my bad feeling started to turn into a _please don't go in there_ feeling. The walls on the outside were cracked and rickety as if the building would collapse at any moment. What made it worst was the groaning sound it made—a sure sign to tell us to keep out, but for some reason, I knew that wasn't going to happen.

As we approached the doors, they slid open automatically. It gave me a scare at first, but I managed to calm myself. Inside was just as much of a wreck like the outside. Dead plants piled on the floor with their dirt spread around them. Dry fading red markings looked as if it were splashed on the walls. Hopefully, the red splash wasn't blood. But I wouldn't doubt it. People had gone crazy when the radiation hit.

But still, the sickening feeling of blood made me uneasy. I took Sakura's hand and told her to be close to me. I could tell she had the same sickening feeling as I did because she only tightened her grip on my hand.

We stopped in front of an elevator. After pondering for several minutes wondering if it was safe to use—or if it even operated still—the building started to moan once more, then we figured, we'll just take the stairs. Sakura couldn't agree more because she was the one to lead me to the stairs.

We entered a door that lead to a tower of stairs. I looked up at it and cursed at the amount of walking we'd have to do.

"You should stay here." I suggested. "I'm going to be going up pretty high." That was only half the truth of why I didn't want Sakura to follow me. The second half was the moaning that the building make. I was sure it was going to collapse anytime soon. Staying at the bottom would be the best place to escape.

Sadly, Sakura shook her head. "We don't go anywhere unless we're together, remember?" she protested.

I sighed. "Fine," I said. I was starting to not like that little deal we made about staying together _all_ the time. "But if you get the slightest feeling that something's wrong, we're out of here!"

That was something we both agreed on. But sometimes I wished her strong little heart wasn't so strong. It made me happy that it was, but at the same time, damned to know it was a bit _too_ strong.

By the time the building moaned and made crackling sounds again, we were just passing the thirtieth floor. Already, I could feel my breath shorten as my muscles started to swell up due to exhaustion. I glanced back at Sakura, who still held my hand, and I could tell she was just as tired as I was—if not more.

The radios in this tower would have to be somewhere in the highest levels, or _in_ the highest level, so I wasn't really sure where to stop. I managed to get us up to the fiftieth floor before wondering to myself, is _fifty_ high at all? Because when I stared up at the amount of stairs we had left to climb . . . there were plenty.

Sakura collapsed, dragging me down with her. Luckily, we were just turning onto flat surface so we didn't get caught rolling down the stairs, but Sakura's hard pant started to worry me. I sat down next to her, trying to catch my own breath.

"You stay here." I finally said. I knew she would rebel, so I added, "Rest for a bit, then come up when you're ready."

From the looks of her eyes, she wanted to come with me so badly, I can tell. Her eyes gleamed as if she was just about to cry and her grip on my hand tightened. Eventually, she let go of my hand and nodded.

"I'll be on the sixtieth floor—" just as I finished, Sakura swung a palm across my face.

"You'll be getting another one when we get out of here!" she said.

I touched the cheek she slapped me on. I'm sure there was a red marking there now because it stung like hell. I guess this was my punishment from her for wanting to leave her. I didn't necessarily _want_ to leave her, but I didn't want her to get any more tired than she already was. I patted her head with a smile and promised to hurry.

By the time I reached the sixtieth floor, my mind was going crazy. It begged for a rest just as much as my body was. Carrying a backpack along only made it worst. Now the backpack felt like a ton on me and I was going to have to get used to it.

The sixtieth floor looked similar to what a regular office area would look like. A bunch of dividers were up separating desks and computers like any office area. Papers flooded the floor like a lake.

Now I have to tell you something. It's something that I try not to think about too much because it creeps me out all the time. But the thing is, Tomoeda was never hit by a nuke of any kind. Not Hydrogen, nor Atomic and Adam. Most of the damage had been due to brawls and outbreaks between people because of madness and fear.

But, Tomoeda _was_ hit with radiation due to other cities around it being struck by nukes. The radiation took only a few days to reach Tomoeda . . . then took a couple weeks to kill. So there wasn't much time to escape or build tunnels in order to go down deep enough into the Earth so the radiation couldn't get to people. I know because there are several unfinished holes around the town.

Well, what am I trying to get to here?

If you got hit by a nuke of any kind, you'd be blown into bits . . . or at least vaporized and burned into ash. But, with radiation, you merely fall asleep, get sick and die, therefore leaving your body to rest wherever you died. Well . . . the thing was . . . there weren't any bodies. At least I hadn't been seeing any. Tomoeda was like a ghost town. There were no bodies at all. I checked houses, apartments, storage rooms, basements of so many houses searching for someone and I couldn't even find a corpse.

Well then what on earth could have happened to them?

I _don't_ want to know. Sakura has never thought about it . . . at least I don't think she has. But I know I never mentioned it to her and I probably never will.

Anyways, I brought this up because . . . well I mean, bodies that should be lying somewhere but aren't . . . I just . . .

There were several markings of blood slashed onto the walls. No doubt, there had been a brawl here too. The blood made me feel very uncomfortable so I jotted myself down an aisle and to my surprise; I saw a machine with a CD inside it. The machine had a red light that flashed on and off as the CD spun. On a mechanical label, it read _track 347_ with a timer that continued to rise. But once it got to twenty minutes, it restarted back at zero and the 347 turned into 348.

My first thought was a recorder. I was sure of it because there was even a small microphone on the side as well. Curious, I opened the hatch and took out the CD and stuffed it into my bag. I did the same with the microphone too hoping that I would be able to use it somehow.

To the side on another desk, I saw a black rectangular box with dials on it. A radio. My eyes lit up and immediately, I tried stuffing it into my backpack, but it just wouldn't fit.

"Screw it!" I said to myself and held it under my arms.

Just then, the building started to moan once more. I shook my head and my heart pounded even more. I've had enough of this place. The moaning of the building, the blood streaked walls, the lake of papers, I was out.

I turned to leave, but accidentally had myself bump into a heavy metallic trash bin that was about knee high. The bin started to roll past me as I found myself on the ground. For some reason, I was in awe to see it move around. At the same time though, I found it kind of entertaining to see it go left then right and back to left until . . . I swallowed hard and watched as it suddenly dropped into open elevator doors _without_ an elevator at presence.

I didn't know how far it dropped, but after about five seconds, I finally heard a _clang_ noise. Then after that, I heard loud screeching like metal was sliding roughly against another metal. Then I made a small assumption of what must've happened.

The trash can rolled into the elevator hatch; fell about fifteen stories before _hitting_ the actual elevator. Then as the elevator and trash collided, it was enough to . . . and now the elevator was slowly . . . slowly . . . oh my god . . .

I didn't even give myself another moment to think. I was out . . . I had to get out.

Sprinting as fast as I could with the screeching of the falling elevator and the radio in my arms, I was forced to skip ten steps down the stairs. Every time I fell I landed hard, but it was worth it. In a minute at the most, I reached Sakura.

"What did you do?" she yelled trying to out sound the horrible noise. For a second, she quickly wiped something away from her eyes, but I ignored it.

I didn't answer. Instead, I grabbed her hands and yelled, "Come on princess!" Heh, so much for not raising my voice.

When we got ten stories down, the building started to shake and rumble. My worst possible fear in our situation was just starting to come true: the building was collapsing. Then shortly, I heard a _boom_ sound which notified me that the elevator had crashed at the bottom. Just then, a piece of cement flew down the middle of the stairs. I only caught a glimpse of it but that was all I needed to know that we had to hurry out or else we'd die.

The rumbling got even louder. I faltered once trying to jump over a fleet of stairs, but that was because Sakura hadn't expected it. Quickly, we gathered once again and this time jumped our last three fleets of stairs.

I opened the door and quickly pulled us outside. I turned back to look up at the radio tower and the top half of the building started to collapse downward as if something were pushing it down from the sky. Dust and debris started to slowly chase us just like an avalanche. Any minute now it would only increase speed and we'd be eaten up if we didn't run fast enough.

Just as the twentieth level collapsed, the dust and debris rushed towards us and passed us like a magical aura. After that, there was a large space of nothing but dusty air to breathe. Then as I looked back, I saw another wave of dark dusty clouds coming at us; this one thicker than the last.

I knew we wouldn't be able to outrun this one so I pulled us into the nearest store and dove behind the cash register. Just then, the cloudy avalanche rushed past the store, destroying any unshattered glass and filling the front half of the store with dust and crap. A loud dull noise echoed into my ears as I set my body over Sakura, trying to do whatever I could to protect her. Then, the ground rumbled like a small earthquake.

I felt a strong wave of wind rush through my hair. Then after a long minute, the rumbling stopped and the store was now filled with debris.

I didn't want to look up. But I did. With the radio still in my arm, I stared around the store. It was completely black and much like a hell hole. I made my way outside of the store and the sight wasn't as different. The building had collapsed and part of it was across the streets and easily reached the town square.

I tried to step on a higher leveled piece of . . . whatever it was, but it only crumbled beneath my feet. Sakura then pulled me in her direction. Once I turned, she swung a palm across my face again. Before I could say anything, she had done it once more.

"What was the other one for?" I asked.

"One was for almost getting us killed." she said. "The other was for the fact that I now have to take another bath."

"What? Then—" her final slap, one for _getting out of here_ just like she told me before. "I guess." I took her by the hand and walked back to the house.

I didn't know how to operate a radio, but I guess I'd be trying to learn something now. Today was probably a day I wouldn't forget. I mean, I almost killed myself, who in the world forgets the day they almost died?

"What is that?" asked Sakura. She narrowed her eyes down at the radio in my arm. She let go of my hand and trotted to my other side, slipping the thing away from me. Sakura examined it carefully, but then turned a dull expression.

"A radio." I finally said.

She glared at me. "You mean . . ."

"If I can figure out how to work it, I can see if there's anyone else nearby."

Sakura gave a frown, then gave it back.

You see, unlike me, Sakura had given up hope already. She didn't think anyone else was alive. Well of course, I don't know for myself, but that was one thing that we had a difference in. She believes we were all that's left, and I still believe that there's someone out there. How can she think about such a thing? I don't know, maybe she was just young?

When we reached our house, I turned back to look at where the radio tower _had_ been. Now it was gone and the site suddenly seemed very different. The only good news was probably the fact that the sky was more open. But I could still see dust particles and debris floating in the air. I didn't know how long it'd last, but for sure, I wasn't going back there for a while.

That night, we didn't do much. We've been through so much already; I didn't even want to even think about the radio and what was in my backpack. I took my first share of the shower and Sakura took her usual bath after me.

Half an hour later, the sun set; the day went by fast.

Sakura had been quiet, a bit too quiet. I started to think she had already gotten out because when I pushed my ear against the door, I didn't hear any splashing like I'd usually do. I don't mean to sound like a pervert like I'd been trying to listen to her while she bathed, but you know our situation.

Anyways, I didn't hear anything, so I checked our room. She wasn't there. I checked other rooms on the top floor and she still wasn't there. Then I noticed that there wasn't any cloth on the door knob or near the floor, so I took my chances.

As I opened the door, a warm burst of steam escaped from the inside. I waited until it was done before I looked in. Sure enough, a blush raced across my face as I saw Sakura sitting as still as a statue in the tub. When she looked my way, I turned and quickly shut the door halfway before she called my name.

"—wait, please come in." she said. My eyes struck frozen at her request. I wasn't sure if I'd heard her exactly, but then she said, "Please."

A faulty feeling struck my stomach. If my stomach could talk, it'd probably say something like, "—nothing funny!" or something around those lines. After a moment to reconfigure myself, I went in, closing the door behind me.

I didn't look at her, because I respected her body and the whole _not wanting to be perverted_ type thing. My head was kept to the side until I sat down beside the tub and faced the door I had entered.

For a moment, silence broke us. The only noise there was were the droplets of water as Sakura played with her hands. I was about to say something, anything to break the silence, but then I heard whimpers. Sakura was . . . crying? I wanted to turn back, but I forced myself to look straight ahead.

"You idiot." she said slowly. Her sniffles were being drowned in the water. "You idiot." she said again, this time with more despair. "You left me alone, in the dark stairs. I was scared. And then that horrible noise . . . I hate you—what happened to our promise?"

Our promise was indeed hard to keep. Now I just realized that I had hurt her, by leaving her alone. It didn't matter how tired she was or how physically hurt she was, she wanted to be with me and I let her down. I did more than just that, I deserted her in a cramped and hollowed stairwell. Not only that, I almost got her killed.

"I'm sorry." was all I could say. She deserved a word ten times stronger than just _sorry_, but unfortunately there wasn't a word out there.

I heard Sakura making several small splashes, then her arms reached around my neck and held me tight as if she didn't want to let go. I could feel her watery face—wetted with tears and water—rest on my left shoulder. Her wet arms started to soak the top of my chest as well as my neck, but that didn't matter. I tilted my head back until I felt her soft baby luscious skin shoulder, then found myself staring up at the ceiling with a string of amber colored hair—moistened—bed right across my face.

"Tell me," she started saying into my shoulder. "Tell me that we'll always be together from now on wherever we go . . . because unfortunately, a promise isn't enough."

Now I felt horrible. Usually a promise is enough all the time, but now . . . but now I just felt horrible knowing that I couldn't keep a promise.

My promise to her: absolutely, there was absolutely nothing I wouldn't do for her. But she wanted to be by my side, and I wouldn't do it for her.

"We'll always be together from now on." I said without hesitation. "_Wherever_ we go we'll always be together." If this wasn't a promise, then what was it? An oath, a vow, a swear, a pledge or something more?

Weren't they all the same? Or did each have its own level of righteousness?

That night was nothing different.

I held her cries in bed until she fell asleep. Then walked up to my window and prayed for a moment.

"Please, if there's anyone out there—"

Well, you get it.

I, Li Syaoran, and the person I cherish most, Kinomoto Sakura, are the only ones left on Earth.

At least . . . I hope not.

* * *

**This concludes chapter 2. Umm, I thought about waiting until the Sunday where I mentioned that I would update regularly from now on, but then I figured . . . thats just way too long of a wait, especially since I already finished this.**

**But, for those waiting for "Mujou no Sakura", she will be posting it on the 22nd like our account states at around 4:00PM Central Timing. Our profile tells when we'll update, so check it out if you must.**

**Thank you, and my next chapter will be this Sunday (like thy profile says).**


	3. NHE

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n: **This chapter is a bit shorter than I had wanted, but I hope you don't mind and enjoy it.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Three…  
**NHE

* * *

The feeling they gave out to me was nothing but nothing. The warmth they extracted was just as cold as the winter avalanche. Their body, stiff like the skin that cloaked them had swollen. The eyes that I wanted to open were either closed or dilated. The smell that hulled from them was just as unbearable as it was to look. All I could do was cry, roar, and ask myself one thing: why?

Why did it have to happen? Not only that, why did it _not_ happen to me? The feeling I gave out—alive, the warmth I gave out—warm as the sun, the skin I wore—soft and thin, the eyes I had—perfect, and the smell I wrought—consumed by the smell I bared.

The people in front of me, the ones I called family and friends, have faded away from me—faded away from the existence in this world. Their soul, tainted; their bodies, rotted . . . nothing will come out good for them. Even the afterlife seemed to be somewhat of a thing to avoid.

They are dead.

For the first two weeks, I lived in misery. Food was hard to find . . . either that or I was just in no mood to ever eat. The water tasted horrible, I'd have to break my way into convenience stores and pack a backpack full of them every day. But all in all, the absolute worst part was the fact that the sun didn't heat the world like it used to.

The radiation created what you can imagine as a thick invisible cloud. The sun's rays and heat wouldn't be able to penetrate through the _invisible cloud_ so the plants died or were on the verge. Lakes and rivers started to creep into the Earth's crust because the grass died, then chapped the ground dry, creating several small slits.

If the day California, of the United States, were to drift away, it'd be soon enough.

I sat at the end of a dock that reached almost twenty yards out into the lake. For once, the lake was clear and seemed almost uncontaminated. Either that or I was just too used to the dirty crap it had in it there it started to seem like a clean lake to me.

For a moment, a small noise streaked through my ears that made me freeze in time and stare around. After a minute or so, I figured it was just my imagination. Insanity was probably my best and only friend now. Everywhere I go, he was there with me, and whatever I do, he was there right beside me.

A sharp echo noise that sounded much like a _huff_ or a _sniff_ caught my attention this time. I took another moment to think and soon realized that it was the thing I heard in the first place. I turned around and the echo seemed to be coming from behind me. It was close . . . I was sure of it because it was faint but I was still able to hear it.

I made my way back down the dock and onto hard land, but then as I got off the docks, the noises started to sound from behind me.

"What the . . ." I trailed off, not knowing what else to say afterward.

Then a thought hit me. I jumped off a few feet from the dock into the water. Immediately I fell deep enough to the point where the water already reached my chest. I swam my way under the docks, and for some odd reason, my assumption was right. Near where the dock met the land, I saw a half circular opening—a cave.

As the echoes of the whimpering sound wavered again, I swam into the cave—scared and breathless—to investigate the mysterious noise.

The cave was dark to the point where I wasn't sure if I was swimming straight or not anymore. But as my feet hit soft sand, my body started to rise from the water and eventually I was finally out onto soft land. The cave was still dark, but as the noise got louder, my eyes adjusted, and I was able to picture something: a little girl kneeling beside three dead bodies.

She was crying with her hands over her eyes, but when she sensed my presence, I was sure that her eyes turned towards me. I wasn't sure if she was scared to see me, but for sure, I knew that _I_ was scared to see her.

**B—I—O—**_**FREAK**_

It was how I met her, a cheerful little girl that wept over the death of people important to her just like me. She told me that she had just turned fourteen and that Tomoeda was struck by the radiation only a week later. It may have been a week later, but that has got to be the crappiest birthday ever. I mean, sure some people might have had birthdays on the day everything went disastrous, but I don't know them.

Kinomoto, Sakura was her name. Her hair was amber to light brown, height a bit under average, but what caught me the most was her beautiful green emerald colored eyes. Even though the sky wasn't as very bright, her eyes still shun like jewels every time she looked at me, which was probably the only thing that ever made me smile ever since . . . NHE Day.

"Neh, Syaoran-sama, what about this?" asked Sakura.

This was three days after we met. During those three days, a lot of stories were told between us to get to know one another to the fullest. Sakura's story was that she had just moved into Tomoeda from Chiba City a month before her birthday. She was just a regular school girl who got the above averaged grades at her academy. The people who had died in the cave was her family, and the ones I saw when I first met her was her mother, father, and brother.

Now, because we wandered together, we decided to find a place where we can live. Tomoeda wasn't the _richest_ place. So you wouldn't expect the best brick houses or biggest, but it did have some decent ones; but, after brawls and breakouts, houses were torn and burned, so it almost didn't matter how great the house was, just as long as it wasn't breaking apart.

"I don't think so." I replied, seeing that the house she pointed to had broken windows and a burnt side. "We should probably try a house that isn't so much within a neighborhood."

Sakura nodded. "Okay, whatever Syaoran-sama says."

I stared at her. Something in her tone made me feel iffy. "Don't say it like that." I said.

"Like what?"

"Like . . . _that_."

"Like . . . _that_ what?"

I groaned at the fact that not even I knew what I was trying to talk about. It was a pointless complain, but now I had to try to explain . . . explain something that I don't even know.

"You said it like you're giving me pity or just agreeing with everything I say . . . I want to pick a place that you'd like too you know." It was probably the best I could come up with that was _true_.

Sakura stared at me for a moment, then smiled. "But I want Syaoran-sama to be happy, so Syaoran-sama should choose where we live. It doesn't matter to me where we live, as long as I get to be with you, and as long as you're happy—that's all I ask for that makes me happy . . . you're all that I have left."

The words struck me like the nicest and sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me, too sweet that I almost felt ashamed to have it said to me. But then something she said _did_ make me feel a slight of discomfort. It was something I wouldn't expect from anyone else, and since no one else is around it, it wouldn't matter as much, but when she says it, it just gives me a guilty feeling . . . a feeling that says, "I'm taking advantage of her."

I didn't want that.

"Don't call me that." I said. Sakura stared at me in a slight confusion. "_sama_ . . . please don't use that with me."

"But why?" she asked.

I came up with something quick. "It makes me happy." I added a smile to reassure her.

"Syaoran-dono?"

I only blinked as she used another honorific that I didn't deserve. "What? No, not that either."

"Syaoran-san?"

"How about just call me Syaoran, eh, Sakura?" I patted her on the head.

Sakura nodded with a smile.

Originally, if the world still had its people, I wouldn't mind my schoolmates calling me such a thing, but this situation was different. It was just me and someone who had just turned fourteen, the honorific _sama_ just seemed very wrong. Maybe I'm just thinking way too much, but at the same time, it was seemed very wrong in my eyes.

"What about this one?" I dragged her over to a brick house behind a checkered fence. The exterior looked as if it has just been built. No burn spots, the windows were still intact and it was close to Tomoeda's square. I turned to Sakura who stared at it as if it were the most beautiful house she had ever seen. Her jaws dropped, her eyes big and beautiful and her arms hanging down to the side.

"It's beautiful . . . and big." she complimented.

"Yeah," I agreed. "and it's _our_ house."

I felt what people would call _butterflies_ in my stomach. The jump and tingling feeling lifted me. I got the feeling that even though it was just us two, we'd find a way to live together and be happy. I know that I'd help her out just as much as she'd help me out. Now, I got the feeling that we were going to be in this house for a long time.

Just as we approached the porch, before I was able to grab the door handle and enter, Sakura pulled me back. I turned to her and tried to narrow my eyes to hers, but her head was down.

When she looked back up, she looked as if she was trying her hardest to keep tears from creeping through from the back of her eyes. Her eyes glimmered and her mouth sewed shut.

"Syaoran!" she started, "There is nothing, absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for you." I took the words by surprise. I didn't know how to act and I didn't know what the right reaction to it was. But before I could say anything, she said it again, "There is nothing, absolutely _nothing_ that I wouldn't do for you."

It took me another moment longer, but after that, I think I finally figured out how to react. I smiled, tapped her nose a couple times with my index and said, "And there is absolutely _nothing_ that _I_ wouldn't do for _you_." With that said, we entered the house.

That night was the first night that our life alone together actually started. It was the first night where I held her in my arms on our tatami mat while she cried for everything she's lost. It was the first night where I realized that no matter how much we _don't_ think about it during the day, everyone is dead and we are left. It was the first night where I would look up at the sky and pray to myself.

"Please . . . if someone's out there, tell me."

**B—I—O—**_**FREAK**_

That was six months ago. That was how we met. That day was no different than the days we've spent together for six months. The only things that changed were the fact that we grew older every day and our hope of seeing someone else alive slimmed every day.

As I held Sakura in my arms again, it was no different than any other days. She cried for everything with every drop of tear she had in her. Then when she fell asleep, I made my way towards the window, opened it, and prayed for the same thing every single night like I had been for six god damn months.

"Please . . . if someone's out there, tell me" I prayed. Then, for the first time ever, I admitted one thing to myself, something that I thought I would never have admitted. "Please . . . I'm losing hope . . . I'm scared."

Near Human Extinction—

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review me your thoughts! :D Keep in touch for next week as well!**


	4. Screams

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:**Hehe, umm . . . there has been some questions about my story here and if it has any relation to the novel and movie "I Am Legend" or if I got inspired to write this story because of that. And the truth is, no. Sure, I read the book and then saw the movie and it was great. But by any means, this story is not based upon I Am Legend. I just wanted to get that cleared up. I just had the thought that since everyone loves Syaoran and Sakura, why not make them the only people left on Earth (or so . . .). There may be some little snips here and there that you can easily relate to I Am Legend, but I assure you, this story has nothing to do with it. And I say there might be some snips towards I Am Legend because . . . well . . . it's fairly difficult to make a story based upon two and only two people.

**Review Reply:  
****Crazy and Proud:** Hey, and thanks for your review, it was greatly appreciated and I'm glad to have you keeping in touch with me and my stories so much. And about last chapter, I'd like to thank you for pointing things out. It's true, I didn't proof read it, I was actually up late writing the chapter from beginning to finish and set my alarm so I'd wake up in time in order to post it at noon like I said I would. So, yeah, I made sure to proof read this one, and please tell me if there is something I missed because my laptop likes to autocorrect me (even if the autocorrection is wrong) and I don't catch it most of the time.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Four…  
**Screams

* * *

When I think about it, why is it the people in power always the ones to be so dumb? Back before Cuba launched their missiles, the United States didn't even try to negotiate before threatening with their own bombs. Sometimes it's best to play the weaker side and give in for a while . . . anything it takes to keep everyone alive. But no, no one lived because of a threat against another threat.

I would like to state out that the first mistake was signing a treaty that outlawed nuclear bombs in the first place. In the end, Cuba had more than enough, the United States of America had less than a dozen, the allies each had at least two atomics along with one hydrogen, and other countries had well over five nukes themselves. In the end, nobody followed the treaty—not even the people who wrote it.

This is what I call, "Sad". And I mean seriously sad. First you make a treaty to keep peace and, secretly for so many years, you've been breaking it along with other countries that signed it. Even Japan had several atomics and one hydrogen that they sent out towards the mid west.

After I took my shower, I felt alive and great. I went back to my long showers and boy did it feel great. Did I just repeat it? Oh well, it really _was_ a good feeling I had. I swung my shirt across my shoulder and made my way out of the washroom.

It was about eleven in the morning when I realized that Sakura hadn't woken up yet. I guess a girl really did need her beauty sleep. Last night, Sakura locked herself in the room until one in the morning. Why she did it? I don't know, she wouldn't tell me. But when she finally opened the doors, I was relieved because I fell flat onto the tatami and was almost half asleep until she cried and I held her again.

Gloomed at the fact she wasn't awake, I slowly opened the door to see Sakura still knocked out. She created a small outline in the blanket and based on the outline, she was curled up. I was actually very surprised to see her smaller than she already was. Sakura slept softly, like a baby just after it finished its bottle. Her breathing was soft and rhythmic, I almost felt like I should let her sleep; but it wasn't my fault she made us stay up so late.

I tossed my shirt across the room and made my way over her and slowly positioned myself beside her. I lobbed an arm over her shoulders and stared as her eyes stayed shut. I made sure our noses just barely met, then said, "Awake?" I've always heard that being close to someone was a great way to wake people up.

She mumbled under her breath. I had no idea what she was saying, but she continued to mumble as if she had some kind of a dream. Just as I thought her mumbling started to become clear, a smile crossed her face and a drool rode its way down to the side of her mouth. Right then I though, _I actually sleep with this girl?_ All I could do was frown and say, "Wake up."

I shook her with an arm, but her head stayed in place as her body bobbed. I wasn't getting anywhere. Just then, she gave out a moan and unwillingly set her head onto my bare chest. I felt her eyelashes flutter, then she backed up a few inches with a "Hoe?"

Finally, she was awake.

Sakura gave me a blank and dead beat stare, and then eventually slowly moved her eyes towards my chest. Then she screamed.

Aww cr_ap_, I hope she didn't get the wrong idea here.

"S—S—S—Syaoran," she said, stuttering the whole way. "Y—y—you're half n—_naked_!" Now I really hoped she didn't get the wrong idea. "W—were you—" Alright, _now_ she had the wrong idea.

Immediately, I acted. "No, no, no, Sakura, it's not what you were thinking."

"B—b—but you're half naked a—and _this_ close to me." she gestured with her hands to even describe how _close_ she meant.

"Trust me Sakura," I said, trying to calm her. "You know I wouldn't do _that_ to you, even if you wanted me to, I _still_ wouldn't."

I swore I could see a rather large crimson blush race extremely fast across the top of her nose and lit the bottom of her eyes. But I wasn't able to get a good look at it because just as I said what I said, Sakura had thrown a pillow at me with another high-pitched scream.

"Syaoran, you idiot!" she yelled. "You're so mean!" she then added whimpers and screams.

Now I was in a half panic state. "Wait, what?" I asked. "What'd I say? I thought you wanted that!"

Certainly she didn't because she then threw her blanket at me. So there I was with a blanket over my head pondering over what I thought I said wrong. I had given up. "The bath's re—" before I could finish, I heard the door slam. When I pulled the blanket off me, I was left alone. "Damn girls . . ." I cursed, then made my way out of the room. Just as I passed the washroom, I heard multiple splashes and Sakura screamed once again. "It _was_ warm when I made it." I said, then left down to the kitchen area.

I made breakfast for the two of us. Two large fried eggs for each with a side of buttered toast and Sakura's favorite, sausaged onigiri. Hopefully me making that would have her forgive me. As I sat down with a sigh of relief, my backpack caught my attention. For some reason, it seemed to have drawn me into it because my body felt like moving to grab it. But then I realized that I hadn't opened it since the day we nearly died—about three days ago.

The square was still a mess. I hadn't gone to it yet since, but when I look out my kitchen window, I could see dust particles still rising in that area. I don't know when it was going to clear, but for sure, I know I wasn't going back there anytime soon even if it does clear.

A _ding_ ringed in my ears; my toast was done. It was the final missing piece before I set out tables: a pair of chopsticks each with a small spoon on the side.

Just then, Sakura marched down the stairs and slowly sat down on the other side of me. I was actually quite surprised to see her wearing another set of pajamas. Instead of the usual pink and white, she wore a blue and gold. Her hair was perfectly combed and free of knots as I—for some reason—started to examine her. Her skin looked just as ever luscious, and suddenly, I had the urge to pinch her cheek.

"Well," I started. "Itadakimasu."

"Thank you for this blessing, Kaze-sama . . . Itadakimasu."

When Sakura began to eat, I thought, _what blessing_? Of course, may I remind you that we're the only two living souls in this town, so I wasn't so sure, but, what _blessing_?

It was just as I began to eat when I noticed that Sakura was probably trying to avoid me. She kept her eyes on her plate and—now that I think of it—didn't even look at me on her way down. It was if my presence never existed. Then, when I thought we'd have a silent breakfast, Sakura looked up at me and inhaled until she couldn't inhale anymore. Then she said:

"I'm sorry!" she held her hands laced on her laps and bowed to me. "I acted selfish, and worst, I went against my promise to you. Next time, I'll accept you when you make your move on me again. I won't fight back."

Thank god I wasn't eating or drinking anything at the time because the cough that erupted from me gave a shock throughout my whole body; I probably would have died if a piece of egg went down my throat. I had to think a while and contemplate over what I had just heard. I clenched a fist and slowly shook my head in dismay.

"S—Sakura . . ." she was going all out on the promise we made each other. She was _very_ serious about it. Just how serious could she be? I wasn't sure if I should be filled with glee or tampered with . . . it seemed like our promise . . . I can't even find the words to describe it. Should I be happy at the fact that she'd say such things? "I _wasn't_ going to do _anything_ to you."

Sakura raised her head. "I—I—even so . . . I just wanted you to know that . . . I won't struggle."

The words pierced me in the heart. Now I felt horrible. She _really_ thought I was going to . . . it makes me depressed to say that she wouldn't struggle, it's like she's just giving her body away. This wasn't like the Sakura I've been with for practically half a year. Sure, I'm sure any other person would take that advantage, but _I_ wouldn't.

I stood from my chair and made my way around the table and behind her. I wrapped my arms around her neck and leaned into her, placing my head right next to hers. Sakura began to look down again, but one thing caught my attention: she was trembling. It wasn't cold, so she wasn't shivering—but trembling. She was scared.

After all this time, I didn't expect her to be scared of me, and here she is trembling in fear. She said she wouldn't struggle, and yet here she is scared. I'm not sure if she was scared at me or scared at something else—like maybe the thought that I _would_ take advantage of her statement.

I wasn't going to, and I wasn't going to let her feel so scared. Not like this . . . not over _this_.

"Sakura." I said, "Unlike other people who might've taken the opportunity you're giving me, I'm not going to do _anything_ to you." I waited for a response, and then as her quivering slowed, I continued. "What happened in our room was just a misunderstanding, the only thing I'm going to do to you is take care of you and protect you." I tried to keep my tone low and soft, almost like a whisper into her ears. "Other than _that_, I would not and _will_ not do anything else to you without your consent . . . and what you said to me just now . . . was _not_ a consent that I will approve of. I feel ashamed and pitied."

I could hear her sniffle and weep. Sakura then brushed the side of her head against my arm. "Did I make Syaoran upset?" she asked.

I couldn't lie to her, so I didn't. "You did."

"I'm sorry."

"And I'm sorry too." I unwrapped my arms from her and just lowered myself until I was her height on the chair. "What I said earlier . . . that I wouldn't do . . . _that_ even if you asked . . . it hurt you didn't it?" she nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, but may I ask why?"

She shrugged. "I'm a girl . . . we don't like to hear things like that."

Was it true? I never really thought about it, but I guess if someone says they wouldn't . . . have . . . sex . . . with you if you asked . . . I guess that would hurt a bit.

"So I guess I should rephrase my answer then. I would gladly—" I could never find the courage to say _it_ in front of her. "—take the opportunity if you asked me."

Sakura sniffed and wiped a tear away from a palm as she turned back towards me. "Now you're just being a pervert." she said.

That was kind of a letdown, but I managed to laugh. Hmm . . . did I just get denied?

You're probably wondering, _didn't she just kind of give me consent? Didn't she just ask me?_ I mean, she said she wouldn't struggle. I guess you can say that maybe she did, but she probably was just shocked to see me shirtless in the bed with her, which then gave her the amazing idea of _maybe Syaoran wants to begin_ . . . but no. It's a complicated thing, but if someone gives you consent, and you find out that it was all out of fear, then it really wasn't anything close to permission.

You do crazy things when you're scared.

I sat back at my chair and looked at her face directly for the first time today. Her entire face was red from tears, maybe a little bit of the redness in her cheeks were blushes of embarrassment.

"Sakura," I said, "There is absolutely _nothing_ I wouldn't do for you. But, if it's something that makes you upset, I will _not_ do it."

To tell you the truth, I don't know why I said that. But I could see that it calmed her. Sakura nodded, then began to eat as if none of this had ever happened. For a few minutes, I watched her eat, then when she noticed me doing so, I began eating.

This was probably the weirdest conversation I've had with her since the day we talked about . . . actually, the last weird and embarrassing conversation we had before this was almost on the same subject. Except we agreed to talk about it . . . I wasn't anything so sudden like _this_.

_There is absolutely, absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for you._ It was a promise we both made to each other . . . and it was very hard to keep. Maybe we should rephrase it a bit?

**B—I—O—**_**FREAK**_

We seemed to have gotten over it. The rest of the breakfast was quiet and we were sure not the talk about anything. After I dried the dishes, I caught a glimpse of Sakura skipping around a corner and up the stairs. I caught her just as she disappeared.

"Where are you going?"

She came back around the corner with a glittering smile and said, "To our room, I'm . . . doing something."

I cocked my head. "Do you need help?"

A yawn caught her just as she was about to talk. When she recovered, she fluttered a couple blinks before continuing. "No, please . . . you stay here." her voice was long and weary.

"O—okay then."

It didn't seem like something I would argue or go against. It was only our room, and if she needed help, I'd be able to hear her when she yelled. I can't forget the last time she yelled for me while I was downstairs. At first, it panicked me. But when I finally got to her, the whole story was just a dead mouse lying in the corner of the room. My best guess was probably radiation, but one thing I wouldn't forget about that day was how horrified she was. It was probably the first time ever where I found Sakura so scared.

After that day, she wouldn't go back into the room for a whole week. It was quite disturbing really, mainly because I had to company her while she slept on the couch down in the living room. But after that week, I finally urged her to move back up.

Feeling the need to do something, I started to scan through our book shelves of anime. Like I said, I'm more of a manga type of person, but I've read all that I have already and I really don't want to read them a second time. Why? Usually because it takes me forever to get over an ending because the biggest cliché of any anime or manga's are _bad ending_—or endings that just make you think forever and ever.

I came across one anime that Sakura seemed to enjoy but I've never gotten a chance to get to, Higurashi Koro no Ni. I saw the manga in stores before, but never had the chance to pick it up, so I have no idea what it's about.

Well, it turns out to be nothing like what I expected it to be. Instead of some kind of romance story . . . I get to see someone smashing two bodies with a bat for the first two minutes of the show. But for some reason, it interested me quite a bit.

For the next few hours, I watched it half horrified and half amazed at how crazy the anime was.

When I checked the clock, it was already early afternoon and ever since Sakura went upstairs, I haven't yet heard from her. Turning the TV and DVD off, I tried listening for her from the bottom of the stairs, maybe she was singing to herself or something. But when I heard nothing but my own heart beat, I went upstairs.

I set a hand on the door handle to our room before I froze in place. I didn't hear anything. What on earth could she be doing? Without another thought, I opened the door and found her on the tatami asleep with a needle in her hand and . . . a small brown plush bear.

On the belly of the bear had a red sewed in lettering that was half done, so it read, "To Sya." the rest of the symbol lettering for my name hadn't been finished yet.

Now it hit me. Why she's been so tired for the past week and locking herself up the other night . . . it was only a thought but, could it be that she was building me a plush bear? From the looks of it, it was probably her first time doing so; the ears were uneven and the eyes were a bit higher than it should've been. But still . . . she was building me a bear.

I pulled the needle from Sakura's hand and set it aside on a table, then took the bear and examined it even closer. It was a simple bear, nothing too extravagant, but I really didn't care—she was making me a bear. I set the bear into a sort of sleeping position next to her head, then pulled the blanket over the two and watched for several minutes as Sakura slept like a doll, her breathing, soft; her eyes, sparkling even though they were closed; and her hair, a string brushing the top of her nose.

As I left, I shut the door slowly, trying to not make any noise that would wake her. Then suddenly, a guilty feeling reached me. This whole time, she'd been building me something and now I had nothing to show or give back. I didn't know how to make anything but food . . . certainly I didn't know how to make a bear. It'd be an utter disaster if I even tried. I might be able to kill something already dead with the bear I make.

Food wasn't an option, I cook it every day. I can't just say, "This is a special dinner." and actually put something special in it. A little bit of _this_ and _that_ and maybe even a bit of _looove_ . . . nah.

The guilt feeling started to emerge even more now. Should I even be feeling like this? Why should I feel guilty? I doesn't make any sense.

But then the imaginary light bulb over my head popped. There was a convenience store not too far from here. It was over by the Tomoeda skyscraper site, across town. It'd be quite a walk and probably would be close to sunset before I got back—assuming that I didn't doodle around—but I think it might be worth the trip.

The bad thing was, if Sakura woke up and found me gone, she'd be very, very, _very_ upset. I would then have broken another promise and I can't keep doing that. But, I wanted to reward her . . . to thank her for making such a thing and to get rid of this guilty feeling that only grew stronger inside me.

I'll take the chance.

If she woke up and found me not home, then I'll just have to beg for forgiveness. If I get back home before she woke up—which I highly doubted—then it'd be like nothing ever happened and I never left . . . hopefully.

It was settled. I was going to get her something from the convenience store, they have everything, so why not? I would be back and beg her for forgiveness one more time if she were awake and live life as it comes.

In fact, I'm already out the door.

_Sakura . . ._ for some reason, I feeling inside me forced me to smile as I walked along the empty streets. A warm feeling inside me erupted, but it was a good feeling. I wanted to make her happy, and even though what I'm doing now is against everything she'd want, I wanted to get her something in return to show that . . . to show that I wouldn't even be making it through life like this without her.

"Sakura, thank you." I said and continued my stroll down the dead streets.

* * *

**Alright, I was really debating whether this should've been a 14 paged chapter or maybe just a 6-7 page.  
But because it didn't really have a fitting ending with the 14 pages, I had to cut it down to two.  
I'm trying to get over a little curb here and trying to get deeper into the plot,  
so forgive me if the chapters are a bit too short for you taste. I'm working my way to longer chapters so...  
Keep in touch!**

**Don't forget to review  
xD**

**-Shinigami 42-42-564**


	5. Truth

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:**Bad news people… I dislocated my shoulder and it really, really sucks trying to type with one hand. Good news though, it hurts like hell, but I'm still typing! So I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to leave a review and maybe a _get well_ message.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Five…  
**Truth

* * *

It was mid afternoon, but may I remind you that because of the left over radiation, the sun's rays were blocked, so it always got dark earlier than usual. Because the winter season was around the corner, a couple months away, the day only darkened even more.

I wouldn't call is dusk, but somewhere in the middle. Even though the sun was still out, barely under the horizon, my shadow barely showed and the air started to smell like what it would've been like at night. The wind was calm but still chilly and I heard nothing but sanity talking to me.

Fifteen minutes I think . . . it's been fifteen minutes since I left the house and from the looks of things, I was only halfway to my destination. On a corner of a street that I crossed, I saw a small green bicycle. I mention this because it was a bicycle that I remember seeing and the person who rode it was a little eleven year old boy named Taka. I frowned at the fact that I actually pondered over what happened to him.

I remember that day clear. It was one of the guiltiest days I've ever had.

When I approached the bike, I set a hand on the handle bars and the memories I had of this boy instantly flashed me backwards.

The truth is: I never was really the nicest guy in town.

It was just about a month before NHE Day when it happened. In the end, I was forced to watch as Taka had to abandon his bike and run away with a bloody nose. All I did was watch . . . watch one little defenseless boy get beat up for his bike and I didn't do anything about it to help. If I remembered correctly, the people around me, my so called _friends_, didn't even take the bike. It was still here.

As I took a closer look, I could still see dried up blood on the seat. I guess Taka hasn't touched his bike since that day. It was a day that left me in misery. I still felt guilt even though it happened so long ago, even though it wasn't even me who beat him. What am I saying? I was there and didn't help, aren't I just as bad?

A forceful smile crossed my face. I knew where he lived, so even though I can't change what happened, I decided to see if I could have his death accept my apology. He didn't live far; he actually lived just a few houses down so I walked the bike to the front of his steps. His house was a nice burgundy painted two story building with black window frames. I leaned the bike against their thick fence and bowed toward the house.

"I'm sorry, Taka-kun."

With that said, I continued my way to the convenience store.

When I got there, about ten minutes later, the place was the same as the last time I could remember, a horrible mess. Items had been thrown off the shelves and cloths were torn and scattered all over the floor. Taped onto the outside of the window were threats about NHE Day and in the newspaper stand were news about the nuclear launches.

Inside, the lights were poorly light. Only one out of every six or seven ceiling lights were lit, so most of the time I found myself walking in almost darkness with only the poor weak rays from outside helping me just as much as the ceiling lights were—which wasn't much . . . at all.

After my eyes adjusted to the dimness, I looked up at a hanging directional sign. Restrooms, women, men, electronics, books and several other names were listed with an arrow pointing the way. It didn't help much so I ignored it.

I traveled alongside an isle of cloths, looking and maybe getting her something new to wear was a good idea. A second later I found it to be a horrible idea because one, I couldn't see the cloths all that well, and two; I really didn't know what she would like and dislike. I crossed that out on my imaginary list.

Moving along, I found myself wandering off into the electronic area. Nearly half the product there was gone with shattered glass on the floor. All there was left was cheap MP3's and speakers.

As I continued around the store, light fluttered nearly two hundred feet ahead of me. It caught my utmost attention as I made my way toward it. Then I finally knew what I was going to get her. Under where the lights fluttered were sparkles of jewels, diamonds, earrings and necklaces. Though half of the selections were gone due to robbery during the riot in Tomoeda, there was sure to be something worth taking.

I thought maybe a pair of earrings, but then remembered that Sakura's ears weren't pierced. Also, I didn't know how to pierce ears so best to throw away that idea. A diamond ring? No, I wasn't proposing. So I guess there was only one choice—a necklace.

Joy happened to hit me once I rounded the counters corner. Inside a small hard box was a necklace sparkling in silver with the letter _S_ hung onto a string of diamonds. On the box, the _S_ stood for Savior, but I think I could make it stand for something else . . . _Sakura_.

I took the necklace and dropped it into my pocket. Just then, the noises of boxes falling and metal against ground made me jump and turn. My heart started to beat like a million drums and a sweat of fear instantly fell from my forehead.

_What was that?_ I thought. Certainly it wasn't something on the verge of falling, something had to happen. Just about fifty feet ahead of me what I heard what right: several cardboard boxes were on the floor as well as a metal stand.

Madness was now starting to get to me, I wanted sanity back. I couldn't tell if a little shadowy figure I saw was just my imagination or something real? I didn't move from my spot. I didn't want to, I was too scared. Just as I thought about getting out of the place, I saw it again: a figure about ankle high, but it moved fast. As it crept closer to me, I started to move back until I hit the counter.

After straining my eyes to see what the hell the thing was, I finally decided on an answer. It was a rat. I'm sure it was right. It had a long flingy tail and its head seemed to bob up and down a lot. As the rat skulked closer, I saw the tip of its nose when it managed to get under the fluttering light. But as the light hit it, it squealed horrendously and jumped back. The cry even scared me half to death as I jumped to the side not expecting such a thing.

The rat continued to screech because it continued to come at me but kept backing away from the light. I was finally able to catch it clearly as it dove its head into the light and backed out. Its eyes were dark blood red and the hair that was supposed to be on it was no more. It looked as if it had been cooked but still alive. A few seconds later, the light above me collapsed. I was lucky enough to just catch it falling through my peripheral and dove to the side as it crashed onto the jewelry counter scattering more glass onto the floor. After that, the rat that had been trying to come at me started to hurry its way towards me. My instincts took the best of me and without thinking why it was coming at me; I got up and sprinted away. I was getting out of here.

I didn't know what just happened; nor did I want to know. But one thing for sure as I made my way outside was that I wouldn't be coming back here ever again. I turned around and panted after my quick sprint. The rat still followed me, but as it came into the dim sunlight, it squealed once more and backed away into the convenience store.

I stood, half shocked petrified. I had thought that the radiation killed off all the animals as well but no, here I was just done being attacked by a rat. It was the first time I've seen an animal since NHE Day. But I've seen rats before and . . . they never really looked like the one that chased after me.

Now panic started to overwhelm me as questions suddenly scrolled down my mind. I had just seen my first animal since NHE Day. Did that mean there were other animals alive as well? Were they just hiding somewhere? Was it possible that humans could—

I stopped myself from thinking and started making my way back home before the hundreds of questions I had made me go crazy.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

When I got back, it was nearly dark. I didn't check the clock to know the time because I knew it wasn't necessarily _late_, just dark. Inside was still quiet, I wasn't sure if Sakura was still asleep or up searching for me. I made my way upstairs and stopped just as I heard whimpers coming from the bathroom.

I rounded my head inside and caught Sakura leaning against the sink with her face in tears looking in the mirror.

"Stupid . . . Syaoran." she said.

My worst possible situation occurred: she was awake.

After a soft and quiet sigh to myself, I walked into the room and silently stood behind her. It took her a moment, but as she registered my image through the mirror, I took out the necklace and hung it over her head and clipped it onto her. It fit perfectly, not too short and certainly not too long. Her green eyes sparkled in tears as a streak of red glowed under her eyes. I couldn't tell if it was due to tears or a simple blush.

Her expression changed to anger as she swung around with a hand in the air. I expected a slap, so I didn't move. But I was surprised to see her stop halfway in her swing. She looked at me with eyes that cared so much that she seemed to not be able to do any harm to me even if I deserved it. After she let down her hand, she tackled me to the ground and shoved her face into my chest. Her arms quickly wrapped around me and she started crying.

"I'm sorry." I said swinging my arms around the back of her neck. "I saw the bear you were making me and I just had to get you something in return."

"Idiot!" she cried. "How many times do I have to tell you that you being here is all that I want in return from you!"

I clutched her harder. "Maybe you deserve more than just me being here with you—"

"No!" she screamed. "It's not about what I deserve, Syaoran, it's about what I need, and that's _you_!"

What she needed, what she deserved, what was more important? Clearly we saw things differently. But whose perspective was better? Whose was fairer? I guess I really don't know.

I didn't know . . . and now I started to think, why is she so scared? Ah—I think I remember. She knows there's nothing to worry about but she must always reflect upon what happened . . . what she saw when I left her. I remember that day just as well.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

Fun was something we need. It's been three months since we met and, to tell you the truth, we've been bored for most of the time. The natural routine was wake, eat, find something to do, eat, find watch anime and read manga, eat, then bathe, then sleep. It wasn't the best thing to do every day, trust me.

Last night we talked about doing something different. It was hard to do, I mean, there was no one we could talk to besides us and most of the things we wanted needed more than just two people. Restaurant was out of the idea; I suggested swimming, but Sakura said she didn't know how to swim. When I offered to teach her, she refused.

So what did we choose? An amusement park.

Tomoeda didn't have the biggest amusement park, but it was still a natural attraction for anyone who visited.

"The Ferris Wheel, Syaoran!" pointed Sakura.

I was lucky enough to find the main power switch that turned on every single ride in the park. But the problem was, we couldn't ride the same ride together because we needed someone to operate the machine.

Once, on a ride called _The Kites_—a ride that's main mechanics is spinning—I was stuck riding it while Sakura operated it. Sure, it was fun, but not when you're stuck on it for more than five minutes spinning clockwise over and over again because a mere girl can't figure out how to turn the damn ride off.

"Sure." I said to her.

Great thing about the Ferris Wheel in Tomoeda was the fact that it had a _round_ button. I'd be able to choose how many rounds we wanted to go on and stop after that amount. So it was the only ride where I would be able to ride with Sakura.

I set the dial to two rounds. One round surely wasn't enough and since the wheel spun slowly, I thought that any more than two would be too long. As the wheel started to spin, Sakura quickly skipped into a cart. I was about to jump in as well, but I missed it. Quickly, I saw a fleet of stairs that lead to another cart. I waited on that stair until Sakura's cart came by and jumped into that one.

Sakura seemed to have enjoyed herself quite a bit. As we got to the peak, the entire park was viewable. Towards the entrance were several kiddy rides and off towards the north end, the far end, of the park were most of the water rides.

Sometimes I even wonder how they managed water rides in an amusement park.

The smile on Sakura's face was really something to see. It seemed like the way her smiled, along with her crystal green eyes, made everything just so perfect. So perfect it even made me smile. As her smile faded when we started to descend into round two, she looked at me. Instantly, I broke my smile into a blank face.

"A—are you having fun?" she asked.

I nodded, "Are you?"

It took her a while, but she finally nodded. "Was this too boring for you?" her eyes seemed to have change to worried.

"Of course not!" I said. "I'm having a _great_ time." Sure, I was half lying, but anything to make a girl smile right? And it worked. A big smile crossed her face, and then as we reached the top again, she looked out the window with exasperation . . . in a good way.

When we finally got out, I took Sakura down on a stroll near a fountain that spouted from the middle. To my surprise, it was still as beautiful as it seemed before NHE Day. Either that or it was because it was near night and the lights everywhere around us reflected upon the water, making it sparkle. I dug into my pocket and found some very old spare change and handed it to Sakura.

"Throw it in and make a wish." I said.

She tossed it in, then closed he eyes and held her hands together near her chest. When she reopened them, she said, "Thank you." I asked what she had wished for, but all she said was, "But if I tell you, then it won't come true . . . and I don't want _that_." Of course, the obvious answer anyone would get if they ever asked someone else what they wished for.

For the next few minutes, we spend our time watching the fountain, then I poked Sakura's nose with a finger. "You're it." I said and back pedaled a few. Sakura only blinked in confusion as I explained to her the game I suddenly brought up. "So, you're _it_! Haven't you played this when you were younger?"

After a smile, she began to chase me and I started to run the other way.

I ran through a Merry-go-Round, hoping that it'd slow her down, but little did I know, she was right behind me. I jumped over a low horse and down from the ride. Then to my right, I found a great place: the mansion of mirrors.

This has got to be my favorite thing to do in any amusement parks. Mirrors everywhere and not knowing where to go, it was amazing. As I entered, I immediately banged my head into a mirror I thought was actually a turn. So instead of using my eyes, I felt my way around. In no time, after few more hits to the head, I made it into a clear dark opening. I didn't see Sakura behind me so I ended up waiting and watching through the mirrors. Hopefully, she went the wrong way. Unlike other halls of mirrors, this one had two destinations. The right one, where I was, and a wrong one, that led you straight into a circle of mirrors.

I saw Sakura enter the mirrors with a smile on her face. She called my name several times and I said, "See if you go the right way!"

Using the mirrors, I watched as she stubbed her head several times as I did, then finally, she started to slowly feel her way around. Just as I lost her, I knew she had gone the opposite direction. I sighed, then leaned against a mirror and waited for her to come back the right way.

For a whole minute, I heard nothing from her. Then my heart started to pound when I heard her scream. Instantly, I reacted and made my way back into the hall of mirrors. I slid my hand across the mirrors to find my way and came across the second path. I took it and watched my own reflections all around me as I turned a corner and saw Sakura on her knees screaming with her hands over her eyes.

Just as I came up to her, I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped at the dreadful scene I saw. Inside the circular mirrors, dried blood was battered all over. Three dead corpses were rotting against a window with deep cuts and broken jaws—hanging by only a string of skin. The sight was too horrible for me to see as well. Quickly, I grabbed Sakura and held her in my chest and slowly started to make my way back.

"Sakura, f—follow me," I said. She was very hesitant to move. "please, we have to get out of here—"

"I'm scared, Syaoran!" she cried.

"I know, I know, that's why we're getting out of here."

It took everything I had, but when we finally got out, we sprinted far and around a corner so we couldn't see the mansion of mirrors anymore. Just as we passed, Sakura broke down and cried, "What happened to them?"

"I—I don't know." I truly didn't know. The blood was dry and the corpses were rotten, so I assumed that it was due to the riot back on NHE Day. Three poor souls were brutalized on such a day. It made me sick. After I told Sakura what I thought, I knew that we couldn't stay here anymore, so we left.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

That was what happened and that was probably why Sakura never liked me leaving her ever again. I guess it's safe to say that it's all my fault. All I wanted . . . all _we_ wanted was to have fun for once, but instead, we ended up encountering the bloodbath of horror. It was a day I'll never forget because I, too, was scared when I saw them.

Then it reminded me of the corpses I had to watch: my family. So lifeless compared to me, a life.

As I sat in the washroom and continued to hold Sakura, all I could do was pray once again.

"Please . . . if there's anyone out there, tell me."

Of course, Sakura was asleep by then.

When I told you I hadn't seen a body, a corpse, since NHE Day . . . I lied. But, I lied for a reason. And the reason is because I didn't want to be reminded of the horrible thing I saw that day. Lying to myself, I should be used to it. I say I'm trying to live a normal life . . . but I'm just lying . . . I'm only lying to myself.

That is why sanity is my best friend. It keeps me lying from reality.

And reality is . . . the bodies I saw that day . . . the smell it spilled . . .

It was fresh as only a few days old.

This is why I lie to myself every day . . . _because_ the truth is what makes me lose my sanity.

"_Oi_ . . . Mad—_ness_?" I cocked my head to the side and smiled as I watched myself lean against the door with arms crossed. "How are—_you _. . . doing?"

I slowly set Sakura on the tile floor and walked up to myself. Then gave the me a smile and walked into the hallway. Aimlessly, I started laughing.

"T—t—the truth!" I yelled. "I—I—I'm going to _die_ in this world a—a—_alone_ ah _ha_!" I swung a fist into the wall, creating a crack and an imprint. I felt thick liquid running down my fist and when I looked, it was dark blood. "B—b—blood! Look, look!" I showed my bloody fist to the me and he smiled.

"Blood, more!" he said.

Nodding, I licked the blood from my fist and ran head first into the wall. My head cracked back and I made an even bigger hole in the wall, but I didn't care. Life was pointless anyways.

"I'm going to die anyways, _just_ like _those_ dead people I saw! They were dead, why can't _I_ be dead too?"

"Oh, but you can!" said the other me.

I looked at him, and then smiled. "You're _right_!" I laughed. "Why didn't I—I'm so glad I have you with me, Madness-kun. I mean look! This world is so _fucked_ up!" After I shared another laugh with Madness, I ran head first into the wall once again, but this time, I felt the same thick liquid run down from my temple and between my eyes. As it reached my mouth, I licked it, and then ran head first into the wall again.

"Madness-kun, look, look, _look!_"

"Poor Sanity-chan." said Madness-kun.

I continued to bang my head and I continued to laugh aimlessly. "San—'ty-chan . . . _ah ha!_"

* * *

**Stay tuned ... and review**

**xD**


	6. Sanity

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:**Alright, I have been so busy it's not even funny. Ever since school started it's been wake up at 5:00 in the morning, drop off Meru (she isn't home taught anymore!!) at her school and go to my school, then after school pick Meru up from her school and drop her home and go to college until 8:45 at night and don't get home until 9:00 and . . . homework and fall onto bed. So yeah, my day has been taken up so much that I have to move my update time to afternoon. This all will be posted on my profile though.

And for those who were expecting an update from Meru (Shinigami 42-42-564's Friend), she didn't update for school reasons but will be sure to update next week. She greatly apologizes.

**Review Reply:  
****Enigma infinite**: Simple actually. I was just swimming and the resistance of the water plus the way I rotated my shoulder popped it right out. Lame I know, but it happened.  
**Crazy and Proud:** Oh yeah definitely, I totally understand what you're saying with Sakura and trust me, I've already devised how I'll build her character and mature her more. Though I can't say when or how I'll do it, I promise you, she'll grow. *thumbs ups*

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Six…  
**Sanity

* * *

When I got back from school, the greeting was always lame. If they _ever_ greeted me at all, it'd be something along the _dinner will be ready soon_ lines; just catching me because I slam the door behind me for a moment and then the just completely oblivious to my existence the next moment. My mother, Yelan, and butler, Wei-san, aren't the best of people. But neither am I.

I guess the only person in the house who's actually high spirited all the time would be my cousin, Meilin. She was homeschooled by Wei-san, so she didn't attend the academy with me. Sometimes I wondered what life would be like if we actually _did_ go to school together. But just as fast as I thought about it, I discarded the thought from my head. I don't think it'd ever happen and I hope it didn't . . . for her sake.

"Syaoran-kun you're home!" she greeted to me.

"Study hard?" I asked as I slipped from my shoes and dunked myself onto the living room couch.

"You know Wei-sensei." she said.

After stretching myself across the couch, I finally registered what she said and said, "Really hard then I would assume."

I reached for the remote. After several minutes of failure, I finally stood up and walked the distance to grab it, but then jumped back onto the couch and hit the big red button on the remote that turned the TV on. Instantly, I just caught a newscast in the middle of saying something. "—take—und—as fast—" was all I was able to make out. The TV started to flicker with static, and then turned off on its own.

When I tried turning the TV back on with the remote, it only turned to a colorful screen with recordings on it—the channel was down. After a big sigh, I threw the remote across the couch and leapt to my feet, trying to find something interesting to do.

Just as I started my own little mental rant due to boredom, Meilin came up beside me with my cell phone in her hands. "Yokuka Naminé-san called."

My eyes flashed in an instant. Just then I snatched my phone from Meilin's hands and held it up to my ears. "N—Naminé?" I heard nothing.

"I didn't answer." said Meilin.

"Why didn't you?" I exclaimed, furiously.

"It's _your_ phone." she replied. I waved her away. I wasn't really in the mood to argue—I never was.

Yokuka Naminé was, what I thought, a very attractive girl at my academy. She was an underclassman to me, but I still managed to see her during lunch, before and after academy hours. So for most of the day, I was with her. There was nothing going on between us, no coupling relationship or anything near that, but she was one of my closest friends at the academy and the only thing keeping me astray from the usual group I was with as well as giving me a small smile every day at least..

"She left a message!" yelled Meilin from the kitchen. I looked near the top of my phone and sure enough, there was a little message indicating that I had a voice message. I held the phone up against my ears again and listened as I opened it.

"_U—um, I'm sorry if yesterday was a bad timing for you, Li-san, but I was just wondering if—like—row. . ."_

The message cut off with static. If you wanted a random event, a spark from the earpiece of my phone shocked the inside of my ear, making me drop the phone with a curse, wondering what the hell just happened. First the TV started breaking up, then my phone. Maybe the reception was getting bad?

I took that as a possible option and went out onto my balcony where the view of the neighborhood pool sparkled only about fifty yards away. Already there were plenty of kids and adults in or around it. I never was the type of person who liked to swim, even though I knew how to, so I never quite enjoyed my time at the pool as much as Meilin.

Fiddling with my phone and reaching it up into the air for a possible reception capture, the phone sparked again, making me drop it. After a few bounces, I managed to catch it just before it fell into my yard.

"What the hell is going on?" I then cursed and examined my phone. There was nothing wrong with it at all.

Though fearful now, I dialed the number of Naminé and held the phone up to my ears, praying that it wouldn't shock me again. As it rung, my heart only thudded at twice its usual speed. Finally, I heard a pick up.

"_H—hello?"_

My eyes widened as I searched for words to say. "Naminé? You called—"

"_Nyah! I'm sorry, but I'm not here at the moment, so please leave a ten second message. I'll try to reply as soon as I can! Bye-bye!"_

Oh my god I hated the girl now. If there was anything that pissed me off—other than the other millions of things on my list—it was someone leaving a voice alert pretending to be there. After a strong and sensational sigh, the beep _beeped_ then I said,

"You got me. Naminé, sorry I couldn't answer your call earlier. I got your message you left, but you kept breaking up, so I had a hard time hearing you. If you can, could you call me—" The beep beeped again, signaling the end of my message.

My teeth grinded and my hands held tight, crushing my phone within the palm. I really couldn't believe she actually limited the message to ten seconds. I hung over my balcony and moaned, wondering what else could've gone worst. Just then, my phone slipped out of my hand and fell into my yard. I cursed and started to make my way down, but then a supersonic noise echoed and rang in my ears. I clutched my ears, covering both of them as tight as I could and fell to my knees.

I didn't know what was happening, but at the moment, I really couldn't even care to think about what was happening. I was in so much pain and my head started to feel as if it were melting. As the noise stopped, the large color of explosion erupted high from the clouds. When I looked, all I could see were the trailed of fire and smoke.

It was like someone was giving a free air show, but as I looked closely, it wasn't anything like it. My eyes widened and fear struck me with pain. All I could force myself to do was shake my head and repeat, "No." over and over again.

A nuclear bomb . . . near Tomoeda?

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

I spun into our room, head still spilling with blood and my fists still soaped. After watching Madness smile at me, I broke out a hilarious laughter and started to smear the blood around my face. The blood tasted horrible, but for some reason, there was a sense of richness in it. I enjoyed it.

Madness and I met gazes. And as strong as mine was, his only exceeded mine; giving me probably the most joyful of joys I have ever felt. Another horrifying laugh croaked from me. This time, I looked past Madness and saw a familiar face standing in between the doors. Her emerald eyes showed fear and worry, but I only laughed.

"Madness-kun, it's Sakura!" I yelled.

Madness turned and looked, then turned back to me and said, "Hit her."

I gave myself a moment to shuffle my eyes from Sakura to Madness. "Hit her?" I asked. "But she's only a _little_ girl—ah _ha!_ I can't do that."

"Then watch _me_." said Madness.

As he walked up to Sakura, I followed. Then as he raised his hand, I did the same. Then as he swung down, I swung down. Sakura's head blasted to the side, blood smearing on the cheek that had been harmed.

"Ah . . . ah _ha_, you hit her, you hit her!"

An evil grin crossed Madness's face and he said, "As did you."

I gave him a look as if he spoke nonsense. "No I didn't, _you_ did! Ah _ha,_ _you_ slapped the bitch—"

"_Syaoran!_" The screamed echoed into my ears like a high pitched megaphone screech. The noise made me step back, then as I looked with half-cleared eyes and thoughts; it was Sakura who was in tears. The tears ran down her cheek and mixing in with the smeared blood.

She tackled me to the floor. I fell back hard, my head hitting against the wall, but I didn't feel a thing. She then started to cry in my chest, but I could've cared less. I looked at Madness with a questioned face and he did the same, but added a smile later on.

As Sakura backed away into a kneeling position, she wiped away a tear, but then held both hands over her face and continued to cry as if nothing she did would prevent her from doing so.

A smile crossed my face, and then as my eyes traveled down to a sparkling necklace around her neck, a beautiful _S_ took my attention. It left me speechless, but as it dangled, I looked back at the crying girl, and for some odd reason, I felt a slight of remorse for her. I looked over at Madness, who only changed facial expressions and said,

"Get away from her." His tone was rough.

After another look at Sakura, she still sobbed. Then the _S_ caught my attention again. It was like it was drawing me towards it. It kept catching my utmost attention.

"S—Sanity-chan." I said slowly.

"Get away from her!" warned Madness. "Get _away_!"

My vision seemed to have altered; now it was clearer and the things I saw didn't seem too imaginary. Now, I didn't have the urge to laugh or beat myself to pulp. Instead, the feelings of sorrow, anger and fear entered me once again. I could feel tears start to weld behind my eyes. Without another second to waste, I slowly motioned my arms around Sakura and brought her into me.

"Syaoran-kun!" yelled Madness. Then he cursed and took a step forward.

"Get away." I said in the most commanding voice I could. "And if you _ever_ hurt her again, you _will_ die and I will make sure of it."

Madness grunted, and then dispersed like thousands of dusts being blown away by the wind. I steered my attentions back to the beautiful girl in my arms.

"Sakura . . ."

It made sense now. I knew why that _S_ meant so much to me. It meant a lot; not only is Sakura my _Sakura_, but . . . she is also my sanity . . . _my_ Sanity-chan. The only reason I could ever keep my sanity was because of _her_. And yet, I let madness take me over and hurt her. I let one single memory take control over me.

"Sakura . . ."

After a few sniffs, Sakura raised her head and looked at me straight into the eyes. Her emeralds glistened through her tears. I used a finger and swiped one away, then smiled and thanked her.

"Li . . . Sanity-kun . . . Syaoran." she said.

That's right. Not only was she my sanity, but I was her sanity as well.

I smiled. "Kinomoto . . . Sanity-chan . . . Sakura."

Sanity is why I lie in the world I live in. Because when the truth is told just like I did before, madness takes over. Why? Because this world was full of it. Look what it lead to, look what it did to this world.

Sakura was my sanity, and without sanity, in a corrupted world like this, it leads to madness.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

I set my head back onto the tub, the tip of my hair just barely touching the warm soothing water. My cloths, off to the distance across the room, and Sakura, sitting on a stool next to the tub. I held out a hand and she took it, laying it across her lap as she forcefully watched the door in front of her.

When I punched the wall, a fairly large cut split in between my knuckles. I hadn't noticed it until a few minutes after I gained back sanity. Now, with a needle and string, Sakura began to stitch the opening back up. I wasn't sure if she knew how to do it, but I didn't ask. If she wanted to do it, then I'd let her whether she failed at it or not. It only showed me how much more she cared for me.

I felt the needle cross from one flap of skin to the other. The feeling of the string felt weird, like some animal was crawling through me, and it even felt painful after every pull, but with the emotion and thoughts running around my mind, I had little room to complain.

After one final pull, Sakura took a scissor and cut off extra loose slack. Then after, she rubbed my hand against her cheek and rested for a moment before letting it go. I thanked her, "Try not to move it so much." she said. "Or else the stitching might come off."

A second or two past before I acknowledged what she said and told her that I'd be careful. Then I repositioned myself in the tub, the water thrashing as I did so, until I was directly behind Sakura. Slowly, I wrapped my arms around her neck and bent over until my eyes were leveled to hers.

"I'm so sorry." I said into her ears.

"You scared me, Syaoran." she leaned back into me.

"I want you to promise me something."

"There is nothing, absolutely _nothing_, that I wouldn't do for you, Syaoran."

It took me a moment before I could gather the will to say what I wanted to say. I squeezed Sakura tighter, trying to express every bit of emotion in me through touch, then took a breath and said, "If Madness _ever_ comes back, I want you to . . . kill him."

The feeling is unknown to me when it comes to knowing what another person feels internally, but I could probably feel the breath hastily escaping Sakura. Her neck stiffened and the hair on the back lifted. I could feel her tremble and inhale with difficulty.

"Do you know what I'm asking you to do?" I asked. I knew she did, but I wanted to clarify for her sake.

Sakura nodded, then held my arms and said, "Then after, what will become of _me_? Right now, isn't being alive alone worse than death itself?"

True, it was. But, maybe . . . just maybe we aren't alone. Or at least, just maybe, _she_ wouldn't have to be alone.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

After Sakura fell asleep again, this time to not be disturbed, I found my backpack and turned it upside down, dumping all of what was in it into the living area carpet. My blade dropped with a bunch of unnecessary items. I searched in the pile and smiled as I finally found what I was looking for, the CD I had found in the radio tower.

I took out my CD player and started to play it. If I remembered correctly, there were well over three hundred tracks. I could then remember that once a time dial hit twenty minutes, the track would raise by a number. So if I did my math right, the recorder _had_ to start recording about a week ago—or somewhat close. Which meant one thing: someone, here in Tomoeda, is still alive; unless, the radiation finally got to them, and they died.

But still, I had to find out.

With old beat up headphones in my ears, I sat on the couch, relaxed and looking up at the ceiling where, if the ceiling were invisible, I would have been able to see Sakura sleeping. Then as I heard static run through the headphones and the track started, I closed my eyes and rested. Right away, my heart thumped as I heard someone speak.

"_There—th—good!"_ It was a girl voice. If I wanted to take a wild guess at how old she was, I would have to guess maybe sixteen or fifteen. _"I hope its working—my name is Tsutsuki Reika, and if you're hearing this, then the odds of you and me being the same is high: we're immune. It's been almost six months or so now since the day nuclear bombs destroyed this world but my brother and I are still alive. Please, if anyone's out there, anyone at all, my brother and I will be at the Soratsu Grocery Store on the corner of Fifth Avenue. Please come, but if you do, do so before night—"_ After, I heard screeching in the background and a boy yelling, urging her to hurry. _"—crap. Please, if you're out there, come!"_

Static broke through, interfering with noises that I couldn't decipher. But now I was speechless. Somebody out there was actually alive and for a month, this message was left here.

I threw the headphones down and scuffed my head. For some reason, the feeling of knowing someone else is alive started to scare me. Now I felt like this was a bad idea, like knowing someone else was alive would only cause me more trouble. At the end of the message, the panicking tone I heard the boy, the noises I heard through the static, something told me that I shouldn't have heard any of it in a real world.

Slowly, I made my way back upstairs and crept into our room where Sakura still slept. The wall was still dented and broken into from my madness state and the blood I spilt was everyone. A few drops here and there and eventually a large dry stain.

I crawled into the mat next to Sakura and hung my arm over her, grabbing her as if I never wanted to let go ever again. I thought that knowing someone was alive would relieve me, but for some reason, it kept scaring me instead.

But, if they _are_ real and the voices I heard weren't imaginary, they would have to do in case . . . in case Sakura is forced to kill Madness.

I'll try my best, for Sakura's sake, but I can't get rid of the fact that there _will_ be a time when Madness takes over me again.

As I heard a floor creak outside of our door, I saw Madness peeping in with my own pair of eyes, giving me an evil look. I stared back, giving him a warning glare, and said, "Don't you _dare_ get any closer."

He snickered, and then dispersed in many specs again.

* * *

**Here was anothe "stepping stone" typee chapter to get the story going a little bit.  
Thanks for reading and don't forget to spend a second of your time to review!**


	7. Screech

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** Sorry I didn't update last week. You won't believe the September I had. Not only did I dislocate my shoulder back then, but just last Saturday someone broke into my car and stole around a thousand dollars worth of my valuables. So yeah . . . sucks to kinda be me at the moment.

But anyways, back to the story. **Enigma infinite**, I tried answering your question, but it took up one whole page after I finished, so I decided to delete up. But to vaguely answer your question, and anyone else who may be wondering, this story is a psychological story. Meaning what? It's all in the head. Some things _won't_ indeed make sense because this story is all about how the characters think in the situation they are in. A _very_ vague answer, but for those who take (or have taken) psychology, you probably know what I mean.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Seven…  
**Screech

* * *

The next morning, Sakura and I spent together cleaning the dried blood on the walls and floor. Luckily, warm water and soap was just enough before it permanently stained. As for the dented creases in the wall, we had to let it be. There was no way we were going to fix it unless we wanted to take the time to do so.

Once the blood was cleaned up, I told Sakura about what I had heard while listening to the recording. At first she didn't believe me, but I had her listen to the whole thing herself. For a moment, she seemed scared, as was I when I first heard it, then I could tell that a feeling she couldn't describe ran down her spine.

If I were to somehow describe it, it'd be more of a monstrous feeling, like a giant hand just slid down my back notifying me that if I turned around, I'd wake up in the afterlife. A terrible feeling indeed.

As she threw down the headphones, Sakura and I exchanged looks. Then came a moment where you'd want to do or say something, but didn't know how to start. I met her gaze, and then wandered around with my eyes for a moment; staring at the ceiling, at the TV, the computer, out into the kitchen . . .

"So . . . what do you want to do?" I asked finally, still looking about.

Sakura didn't seem so sure about a reply, but said, "Do you think she's . . . still alive?"

"She recorded it not too long ago. I'm sure she is."

"Then what do _you_ want to do?" she asked.

I took a seat next to her and took her hand into mine. "Sakura, if you want to go, then we'll go. But if you want to stay here, I have no problem staying here as well."

Sakura gave me a stare and then pulled her hand away and stood out in front of me. "You lie!" she yelled, swinging her hand across her body.

Her voice struck me as demanding and frightened me. "W—what do you mean?"

"You say that," she started. "You say that . . . but I know you, I know you Syaoran! It doesn't matter what I say or choose, you're going to want to go look for them. If we stay here, then you'll have the itch to go, but wont because I'm hindering you."

Now her voice was frail. Something that I had always assumed of her really came true: she completely gave up on the fact that someone else was still out there. I got up and stared deep into her eyes. From what I could see, she suddenly seemed scared as if I had lifted some sort of evil aura.

"Why . . . why are you thinking like that?" she took a step back and I suddenly erupted. "Why are you giving up on life like that?" She stumbled, but caught herself. "There are people out there who are probably still alive looking for others like us and you just want to pretend they don't exist?" I took a few breaths to try and calm myself down, but it didn't seem to work as I erupted once more. "Why, Sakura, why?"

Sakura flew back onto another couch behind her and grabbed a couch pillow and held it tightly in her arms. She stuffed her face inside the pillow and screamed, using the pillow to soften her cry. When she looked back up at me, I was completely caught by surprise to see her _not_ crying, but instead, with a serious face.

"And then what?" she mumbled, giving me an ungrateful eye. "Whether we find them and their alive, or we find them and their dead, what then? If there are others and we find _them_, what then? And if we keep continuing this chain of finding people and we keep finding them, what _then_? Syaoran, how do you want to live once we find others who are still alive?"

I shuttered, not knowing how to answer her. She was thinking about such a different life than I was that I couldn't answer something simple . . . then what? After we find people who are still alive . . . then what?

"Syaoran, please don't misunderstand me, I _do_ want to find other people. But this world isn't the same as it was before. It's changed and I've come to accept that. I love living here with just you, I love having to worry about no one else but you, I love being in the same room with you every morning, day and night, I love being held in your arms every single night and—" she pushed me back onto the couch behind me and shoved her face into the side of my neck. "—I love you." Her soft lips pursed onto my neck.

Speechless was what I could call it. What else was there for me to do? What else was there for me to say? Glee filled me, butterflies tampered in my stomach. I was never accepted as much as Sakura accepted me before. I was never told that someone loved me before. The feeling I felt now was the same as when I left the house to get Sakura her necklace. The glittery feeling, the burning cheeks and the—now—warm skin of someone holding onto me and her cold salty tears running down my neck.

When she released, I still couldn't find words to say. After wiping off a tear from her cheeks, Sakura said, "Let's go . . . but promise me that meeting someone else won't change _us_."

I couldn't really understand her completely. I always thought that me being with her just wasn't enough to please her. But from her side of everything, it seemed just the opposite. I was everything she wanted. Did she replace her family with me? Or did she just—like what she said—learn to accept what had already happen? Knowing that her family wasn't there anymore, she accepted that she would be with me. And as long as _we_ don't change, she'd accept other survivors as well?

After all of this, I pulled her into my arms and came up with one and only one thing to say:

"There is absolutely, absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for you."

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

The next hour was spent packing. For one reason, even though it was only three-thirty in the afternoon, the sky started to darken as the sun's rays had a hard time penetrating through the radiated air, the voice that told us to come before dark made me worry that something was wrong; for a second reason, I don't think we'll be coming back home ever again.

As Sakura was downstairs gathering necessities—can foods and water—I was upstairs stuffing almost anything I could find into my backpack. A couple flashlights, a small blanket, a first aid kit, and to the side pocket was my ninjaken blade. I tossed the backpack around my back and turned to the door. There, I saw Madness staring straight at me with a grudging smile.

"You're leaving?" he asked in a fowl manner.

I walked up to him so our nose was barely touching. "And hopefully, it's for good."

"But you're scared aren't you? You really don't want to leave, but at the same time you want to know if anyone else is alive."

"Is that so wrong?"

"Sanity-chan, do you think you'll be able to keep your promise to her?"

"_She_ has _nothing_ to do with you, so leave her out of anything you say!" I spat.

Madness smiled and crossed his arms. "Remember, Syaoran-kun, I _am_ you! So if she has nothing to do with me . . . then isn't that the same to you?"

I stopped. Silence struck. After another second, Madness dispersed into thin air. After he vanished, I found myself cross armed just like he was. Dazed and half confused, I shook all the thought away from me, as if I never even had this conversation, and made my way downstairs.

Just as I jumped down from the last few steps, Sakura came around the corner and jumped with astonishment.

"Don't do that again!" she said catching her breath.

I apologized, then asked if she packed all that we probably needed. She nodded, and when I asked her again, she reassured me.

Wandering around with my eyes, I couldn't help the fact that I was actually going to leave this house. For how long? I don't know. But it just doesn't feel like any other time I've left the house. It was like something was going to change . . . I knew it, but I didn't know what or when.

"You know it's been six months." I said. "Six months we've lived here together. Though it may seem wrong . . . because it's probably not true, but I think that was the best six months I've ever had."

"W—was I part of it?" said Sakura starring down at the floor. I could tell that her cheeks brightened.

I took her hand and laced them into my own. I waited for her to look up, then said, "You were every single second of it."

After a smile that I would never forget, we made our way onto the edge of the yard and stared back, savoring our moment with our home, not knowing if we'd return or not. Five minutes later, we were off.

"Do you even know where this _Soratsu_ place is" I asked, now just figuring that I had no idea where it was.

"You lived here longer than I have and you don't know?" said Sakura blankly. After I sighed, she continued, "In the Square . . . near the radio tower, remember?"

Right, the same place I nearly got us killed. Just the thought of it brought me the creeps and ill feeling. Now I wonder what I'd feel once I actually got back to it. Without another word, we started off towards that direction; Sakura trailing behind me with her hands laced onto mine, her skin, as luscious as her cheeks were. Then something interrupted my happy thoughts. I don't know what it was, but for sure, I knew something was going to change.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

It was getting dark. The Soratsu neon lights were faded but were bright enough just to light the words. The grocery store wasn't much of a grocery store at all, the size and quality was much less than that of a regular one, also it was connected with a strip of other stores. The Soratsu _grocery store_ seemed more like a little market instead.

Sakura was right, the radio tower—or what's left of it—was only a quarter of a mile away from us. Still, I could see the debris even from this far away.

The lights inside the Soratsu _market_ were dim—some not even on and some just flickered on and off. A real hellhole if you ask me. Bags of chips were spread on the ground and soda and slushy mixes stained the floor. After stepping on it, my shoes would make rippling sounds and stick.

I felt Sakura squeeze my hand harder; I knew she was getting the same feeling I was, the feeling of uneasiness.

"Are you starting to get the feeling that maybe we should've stayed home?" she asked, tailing me from behind and turning her head to look behind her.

The atmosphere made me agree. "Actually, I am."

"Then is it too late to turn back?"

I looked back outside; the sky was already darkened. If I stared hard enough, I was able to make out a ray of sunlight, but even that quickly faded.

"Maybe." was all I could say.

As we strolled down an aisle, the sound of banging walls made Sakura and I jump. My heart pounded frantically as if I was in some kind of horror movie. The feeling I felt was a negative one and something inside me told me to kneel to the floor and cry. The noise came from the other side of the aisle, from what I could tell. Sakura pulled me back, trying to pull us out, but the noise made me curious.

Have you ever seen those horror films? Where you know you should follow what the bad feeling is telling you to do—run away, and yet you just go against it because of curiosity? That's what it was like for me now. Dumb humans . . . so curious. Sometimes fear gives you the right approach, but certainly it wasn't doing it to me.

As I turned out of the aisle, my eyes flickered, and I felt as if someone had vacuumed all the air out of my lungs—okay bad analogy. I was breathless to see a girl sitting in a dark corner with her knees held at her chest. Her long dark black hair was draped over her face so I couldn't see her face. Just your normal stereotypic scary looking girl.

When Sakura saw her, she gasped and quickly hid behind me. To tell you the truth, I wanted to hide behind her, but knew that that wasn't the right thing to do.

"O—Onee-san . . ." I stuttered. The way she sat, inside a circle of shadows, gave me the creeps. "Are you . . . Reika-san?" I asked. A hard thick swallow followed right after.

The girl didn't answer. I started to make my way towards her but stopped as she started to push up to her feet. Sakura squeezed me hand even harder and started to pull me back. Fear struck me as the girl took a step forward and began mumbling words that I found hard to decipher.

As she stepped from the shadows and into the light, she stepped back with a yelp and started to scream and crawled back to her corner. The scream was monstrous, more like a horrible screech. It was loud enough to the point where I had to let go of her Sakura's hand and cover my ears. Sakura did the same, but through the girls scream, I could hear Sakura scream as well.

When the screaming stopped, I fell to one knee, then turned to Sakura, "Are you alright?" I asked her.

It took her a moment, but she finally panted and said, "What _was_ that?"

I couldn't answer her. The scream was like nothing I've ever heard before. But before I could even tell Sakura that I didn't know, the girl dug around her corner and picked up what seemed like a rock. She threw the rock into the light above and smashed it, flickering off as its glass shattered onto the floor. I gasped and stepped back along with Sakura.

The girls face was now revealed. Her eyes were dark and maroon and her face looked cooked with hard wrinkles around her cheeks. She cried out another horrifying noise and started sprinting across the market towards us. She avoided the oncoming lights by running around them.

"Syaoran she's running towards us!" Sakura cried, her voice struck with a deadly fear.

"Run!" I cried. "Run!"

Sakura turned and sprinted. I turned too, but tripped over my legs and fell face first into the ground. The adrenaline of fear welded inside of me. I didn't know how to react and I didn't know what to do. My mind told me to get back up and run—that's what I wanted to do—but my body just didn't move. As I turned to my back and saw the girl closing in on me, she continued to scream and I covered my ears with my hands once again.

Just as she seemed to lunge towards me, a bright blue light beamed into her face and the girl scampered back and crashed into a stand of chips. Then a loud _bang_ rang in my ears and the girl fell to the floor, blood running from the back of her head and spreading around her body.

"Syaoran!" I felt Sakura wrap her arms around me. My heart has never thudded as fast as it did now. So much just happened and I didn't even understand why one bit of it. When I turned, all I could see was the same blue beam of light shine in my face. I shielded Sakura by pushing her behind me. As the light tilted and my eyes quickly readjusted, I saw a beautiful woman with a black ponytail. She wore a leather jacket and held a pistol in one hand.

"I finally found you." she said, but she wasn't talking to me. I turned back to the girl and her body still rotted on the floor with blood still compiling. "Kid!" I heard. Then I turned back to the woman. "You two follow me." she turned and ran around a corner into an aisle.

"W—wait . . . w—who are you?" I called out. With Sakura's help, I got up to my knees and the two of us slowly walked to where the woman disappeared off to.

When she came back and shined her blue flashlight at my face again, I jumped back in fear. "I'll tell you everything, including my name, later. But for now, we _have_ to get out of here. Can you two run?"

Without even thinking, I nodded. Then Sakura did.

"Come on, let's go."

I didn't know who this stranger was, or what the hell just happened, but one thing was for sure, _she_ was alive; another survivor just like Sakura and I. But then the girl . . . she was . . .

My mind was blank. But as I held Sakura's hand, dragging her behind me, I marched my way outside and ran, following the mysterious woman who, I guessed, saved me.

* * *

**Yeah,  
2 weeks and a short chappie is all i have to show for  
*sigh* *grumble*  
But anyways, unless some _unfortunate_ events happen to me again...  
I should have another chapter up by next week  
Time of update has changed from Sunady noon to Sunday 5PM**


	8. Hope

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** I guess the way I laid this all out, it looks like an "I Am Legend" story. But may I remind you that this is not going to be like the book/movie. I think I've said this in an earlier chapter, but remember that making a story with very limited characters is very hard, so please it'd be nice to stay away from I Am Legend.

Hope you enjoy, and please review.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Eight…  
**Hope

* * *

The woman we followed led us into a hotel building on the east side of Tomoeda, a part of Tomoeda I'm not so familiar with. Slowly, as we entered, the woman closed the door and looked out the blinds, then closed it tight and gave out a relieving sigh.

The room was small on the second floor of the two story hotel. It was just one room with two queen size beds. A small table and a kitchen located on one end of the room and on the other was a door leading to the bathroom.

When she stared at us, Sakura shuffled her way behind me. Our gazes met between us two and I finally had the guts to start talking, but just as I opened my mouth, she had already begun.

"And here I thought there was no one else." she said.

Bewildered, I sat on the edge of the hotel bed with Sakura, holding her hand tight, and asked, "Are you . . . Tsutsuki-san?"

The woman shook her head. "No . . . _she_ was." My ears flared up. I knew instantly that _she_ was the girl back at the market in the square. "Yamaraiki Funata, what's yours?"

It took me a short moment, but I eventually understood that she was giving out her name.

"Li Syaoran . . . and—" I pointed to Sakura "—this is Kinomoto Sakura. But it's true; you're like us—immune as well."

Funata chuckled. "Bright kid." But a chuckling face suddenly turned into a stern one, giving me an eye that meant something . . . I couldn't really put into words what it meant, but for sure, it was something negative.

"W—what was that? Back in the market, what _was_ she? What happened to her?"

Funata stared at me in amazement as if my question was completely ridiculous. Her gaze struck me with confusion and deep inside, I felt a bit uncomfortable.

"You mean you _don't _know?" she asked.

I cocked my head, not knowing how to answer. "Umm . . . I guess?" I really didn't know how to answer; my heart was still pounding from what I saw earlier. I tried asking about it, but it seemed to just backfire right back at me.

"Are you saying, that for nearly half a year, you had _no_ clue they existed?" she set her pistol and flashlight on a desk across the room. She undid her ponytail, letting her hair fall down past her shoulders and took off her black leather jacket and threw it to the ground.

I blinked several times, then stared at Sakura to see her just as frightened and confused as I was. When I turned back, I shrugged and nodded. "Just what exactly are _they?_ And what happened to Tsutsuki-san?"

After a soft sigh, Funata leaned against the desk and gave the two of us a long hard stare before saying, "Go freshen up, I'll tell you everything—based on what I know—after so."

I didn't feel like arguing. Not only was I tired, but so much had happened already that I figured to start knowing something soon, so I pushed Sakura and urged her to bathe first. After about fifteen minutes, Sakura came out with damped hair and a bathrobe. Then after I took my share to bathe, the three of us sat around a small table on one side of the room.

"I'm really still stunned that the two of you have lived for half a year and haven't noticed them." Funata said. I nodded and acknowledge our unknowing so and urged her to explain. "Well you've noticed to large amount of body disappearance haven't you?" I nodded. "Those who didn't get killed by the bombs got killed by the radiation, and those who didn't get killed by the radiation just suddenly died."

"From starvation." I blurted.

"Half true." she corrected. "Some just flat out fell to the ground; well eventually they got back up and started walking again."

"So their zombies?" Sakura brought in. It was the first time she's spoken since the market.

Funata shook her head, and I was glad so, but then a queasy feeling took over. "No, of course not. In the stories, zombies are mutated by viruses that can be spread through blood transfusion and saliva. _This_ however is just plain radiation. It can't spread through such like zombies—though it _is_ airborne."

"But I don't get it, how did Tsutsuki-san . . ." I broke up, but regained myself seconds later. "How did she . . . it's only been over a week since she made the recording."

Funata's eyes brightened. "So _you're_ the one who took down the radio tower."

I backed up in my chair and my cheeks flushed. "Y—yeah."

Funata gave the two of us a hard look. Her voice was pleasant and playful; she was calm in every way like she knew how to handle the situation. Whether she did or not, one thing was for sure, and that was the fact that she knew how to handle it a lot better than me.

"You two are so young . . . and even though it was your first time seeing them, you're both so calm." Sakura gripped my arm and rested beside me. "I see . . . so that's what keeps the two of you going." I looked at Sakura, then back at Funata. "I had a husband, he was everything I had." Funata glowered, but then looked up at me.

We were being thrown off topic. From the look that Funata was giving me, I knew she was doing it on purpose. Either it was something she didn't want to tell us or something she didn't want to tell Sakura. Even though we just met, it seemed as if we were able to connect and reach one another like we've known each other for years.

I knew what she wanted, but why she wanted it was a different story. I looked at Sakura, and once she yawned, I took that opportunity.

"Maybe it'd be better if we talked in the morning." I requested. "A lot's happened to us so suddenly today."

"Good idea." said Funata. "I'll stay outside and keep watch. The two of you get some sleep." with that said, Funata picked her pistol up and threw on her jacket and stepped outside.

I pulled Sakura onto the bed and lied beside her. Then as she fell asleep only minutes later, I noticed one thing about her: it was the first time she didn't cry before sleeping. Not even a single tear fell from her eyes. But as she slept, I made my way out the door, taking a look back in before joining up with Funata outside, being aware of my surroundings.

Downtown Tomoeda was several miles in front of us. The parking lot in front of us was empty but a few cars parked. The night was quiet and cold. I looked down at the pistol in Funata's hand. She was ready to pull, shoot, and kill at any moment if she needed to.

"So," I started. "She's asleep, what'd you want to tell me?"

"How old is she?" asked Funata. I told her that Sakura was fourteen. "So young . . . that's why I didn't want to say anything critical in front of her."

"True . . . but believe me, she's strong." I encouraged. "She's young, I know, but she's just as strong as any of us."

"You two must share something precious." Funata smiled. "What if I were to tell you that we really _aren't_ immune?"

My eyes narrowed towards her, but she only stared off into the night. "What do you mean?" Not immune? It was impossible. If I wasn't—

"Our bodies are built to resist several attacks. But eventually, it'll give in."

I took a step forward in disgust. "So what you're telling me is that sooner or later, I . . . Sakura . . . and you will eventually mutate?"

Funata gave me a long hard stare, and then said, "That's what I know so far. That's also what I didn't want Sakura-chan to hear."

"That's what you know so far," I repeated. "Then that means there is still a chance that immunity is possible."

"I won't deny that, but, from what I've seen so far, it's very slim." She gave me a hard long stare, seemingly trying to decipher my expression as I tried her. After a minute, a cool burst of wind rang through her hair as she turned back at the moon. "I don't get it." she said. "You're so calm. Usually the people I told freaked out."

I rested against the railing and stared down aimlessly around the parking lot. "That's because I'm fighting."

"For what?" she asked. "Life is kind of pointless to live, knowing that, eventually, you'll turn."

"For her." Instantly, Funata knew I meant Sakura. "She's been my sanity ever since we met. Without her, I probably wouldn't be alive right now. Because of that, I'll do whatever it takes to keep her alive, happy and well. Though our promises are hard to keep at times, I think I finally found a way to keep her last request truthful."

"Oh? And what was her last request?"

"That our relationship wouldn't change even if we find others that are alive like us."

"And how do you plan to keep that?"

It wasn't a hard decision for me. Not at all. Ever since Sakura made me promise that, my minds been boggling on what I could do to keep the promise. Now, I think I finally figured it out. It probably wasn't the most number one choice to have taken, but for sure it was the choice that I wanted to take.

"You'll see . . . tomorrow morning." was all I said. Funata gave me a sly smile and continued to survey the area. "But going back to what you said, _the people you told usually freaked out_, meaning you've met other people as well?" she nodded. "What happened to them?"

"They all turned into one of _them_, one by one. Reika-chan and her brother were the last."

"Oh, I see." My voice softened.

"But, I'm still amazed at how strong you are. It makes me kind of confused sort of. How do you fight an inevitable end?"

There was a long pause.

"For sixteen years," I started, shifting my body into a more comfortable position. "I've lived a bored life. Nothing dramatic ever happened; I was just the spoiled kid who lived in a rich family and had absolutely nothing to do. So it may seem weird, but this unfortunate event that's happened, is actually the highlight of my life. I have someone to protect, and I have a goal: to fight and find survivors. You _do_ believe there are others out there right?"

Funata shrugged. "So far, I've been finding people. So there's no point in giving up—"

"Then it's settled." I took a step forward and stretched out my arms. "In the morning, the three of us, together, will start looking for survivors. Sounds good? Having a goal will also get your mind off of the negative things."

Funata looked back at me as if I didn't quite understand the predicament we were in, or as if I didn't take it serious. But the truth was, I _did_ take it serious, I _do_ understand our little situational problem: we, inside a dead world, will be traveling together while avoiding crazy mutated things that could possibly kill us. If there was anything I learned from my parents as a kid, it's this: _see life as it comes and don't worry about things that have already happened_.

And I'm doing exactly that. I'm not going to worry about being scared, I'm not going to worry about why they mutate or when _I_ will eventually mutate or if I'm even immune anymore. I'm not going to spend the rest of my life worrying about when Funata changes or even Sakura. I'll just see it as it comes. I really do hope that things will turn out good, don't get me wrong, but I'm not going to let this slow me down.

Now I'm not saying that I'll try to live life normally, because it's morally impossible, but I'll do what Sakura did; adapt and try to enjoy life now . . . because I couldn't do it then.

"I guess." said Funata. "But we have a lot of things to do in the morning, so get some rest."

After that, I crawled back into the bed next to Sakura and ran my fingers through her still damp hair and closed my eyes. The scent of her hair flowed through my nose and quickly pushed me to sleep.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

When morning broke, I was the last to wake. I caught Funata coiling her hair into a ponytail and fiddling with her pistol right after. She looked as if she slept for days; her dark brown eyes didn't show a single hint of fatigue. When she greeted me, I got up and rubbed my weary eyes. Then I felt Sakura pounce on the bed with half a smile on her face, as if she'd forgotten all the horrid things the other night.

"You're awake!" she said. "Finally. Oneesan and I've been up for an hour already."

I groaned. "Really?"

"Syaoran-kun," started Funata. "Remember that our day's shortened due to the radiation, so the earlier we move, the more ground we'll cover."

"I know." I said, still half asleep.

It took me almost twenty minutes before I was ready and going. The lack of energy still slowed me thinking process, but as I opened the door to the outside, the sun flashed and the cool morning air felt refreshing, almost rejuvenating me entire body. Instantly, I felt like I'd be able to do many things I couldn't before.

As we walked our way down to the parking lot, we sat around a broken down car and discussed our plans. Funata mentioned that she's already checked over half of Tomoeda for survivors. Sakura and I and the Tsutsuki siblings were the only one's she's seen.

"There's a semi-large mountain north of here—about a week's worth of walking. We'll have to go through a thin layer of forest, but it shouldn't be so bad."

"And you mention this why?" I asked. I really didn't feel like walking for an entire week, especially if I had to go through a patch of forest and hike a mountain right after. "This is radiation, this isn't a virus. The temperature doesn't kill it like it would viruses or bacteria's."

Funata nodded and crossed her arms as if she expected me to say that. "True, but, radiation can only penetrate so far through the ground. Even before I met you guys, I really wanted to see if anyone took advantage of the mining hole and somehow managed a place to live inside the mountain—deep enough to where the radiation wouldn't be able to penetrate."

When I thought about it, it wasn't a bad idea. Looking over towards Sakura, who stared at us from the roof of the car, seemed to not mind the idea as well. But it was the trouble we'd have to go through that killed. Since I couldn't argue anything against her idea, I had to go with it.

"It's settled then." Funata exclaimed. "Let's start leaving now."

We began, but just before we left the parking lot, I stopped. Sakura and Funata managed to take another few steps ahead before they noticed me trailing behind. I stared the two in the face, and then remembered that I would tell Funata how I planned to keep my promise to Sakura.

"Sakura." I called. She came up to me with a questioned expression.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. I shook my head and roughly patted her on the head. "O—oi, Syaoran, stop it—Oneesan's looking."

"I finally have an answer." I told her.

"For what?"

"Your question, _then what?_ I know how to keep it . . . but I need your help as well." Sakura's eyes glimmered through the morning sun. As I brushed a knuckle against her cheeks, her luscious and soft touch was still there. "Kinomoto Sakura . . . marry me." I stared off past her to Funata, then back to Sakura and smiled, trying to show her that I meant it. "Please, marry me, Sakura."

I could feel the air escaping from her. Her jaw dropped and her eyes saw nothing by my own. Her eyes started to glitter with tears, but it was as if I were some kind of tear expert because the tears I saw were tears of joy. Slowly, Sakura gave a low giggle and instantly pushed herself into my arms.

"I will!" she said.

This was probably the happiest moment of my life. Though I imagined my proposal to someone a bit differently, it seemed fitting. I grabbed Sakura under the arms and spun her around with joy. It was then when Funata walked our way that I stopped and held Sakura by my side.

"Woah, let's slow down here." she said. "When I asked you how you wanted to keep the promise, I thought it was going to be something more like a simple hug, but _marriage_?"

The only thing I did was laugh. "Would you like to wed us?"

Funata shook her head. "I'm no priest. And even _if_ I were one, I surely wouldn't wed a fourteen year old girl and a sixteen year old kid."

"Oi, watch your language." I said still holding Sakura by my side.

Funata blinked several times in disbelief and swung her arms in the air. "Alright, how about this: you two are _engaged_, but as for marriage, not yet."

Sakura and I stared at each other, and then she smiled. "That's fine. Then Syaoran will be my future husband."

That was settled and that was what I wanted. Whether or not we're immune or not, I'll know that the two of us will be together and live together happily. Nothing can change our relationship and nothing ever will. I will fight to my death to keep it that way. You would probably think that there would be no point in going on when you have a dead world, but at least . . . at least I have something I want to fight for.

Wasn't that the goal before the world died? Everyone fought for something? Whether it was for freedom, rights, salvation, and their own life, what makes it so different now? Why give up? I'm just simply doing what my future wife did . . . adapt. That's what everyone did before, so why change?

"Alright, now that you two are done sharing your semi-holy matrimony, can we start moving?" said Funata, half complaining.

I took Sakura's hand and looked north. We had a long walk to attend to. But eventually, if we keep walking, we'll get there.

"Let's go." I said, running past Funata with my wife in hand.

I'm sorry . . . _future _wife.

"Oh, and Syaoran!" I stopped and turned back to Funata. "You were right, she _is_ strong."

I looked down at Sakura with astonished eyes. "You mean—"

"I told her everything . . . about _them._"

Truthfully, I wanted to tell Sakura myself. I wanted to exclude things that maybe she might not have wanted to hear, but I was already too late. Exchanging looks from Sakura to Funata, the two seemed to have synched like I had with her the other night. It wasn't quite the feeling I wanted, but I felt happy that Sakura finally knew; I felt happy that she wasn't left out because, really, it wouldn't be fair.

As I stared down at Sakura again, she gave me a wink and said, "Don't you two dare have another conversation without me again, you hear?"

Laughter soared from Funata as she walked closer to us. "That's a promise that I'll keep."

With that said, we were off.

* * *

**This was for not updating on Sunday  
School life is seriously busy. ughhhh I get sick of it sometimes.  
But I hope you enjoyed. Not really the way I had originally planned this chapter out  
but it was a "moving forward" process still...... I guess...**

**But anyways, give a bit of your time and review please? Tell me what you're thinking so far. Should I have changed something or... if you want to see something in later chapters... go for it. I'll listen to everything.**


	9. Goodbye

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** Alright! I broke the 50 review barrier! Thank you all so much for your support and let's keep it going. I thank you for all the compliments and aid you've given me; sure, I'm not the most anti-speller/grammatical person here, but I surely do try. And I also ask forgiveness for my inconsistent updates. School really has been a busy work. I usually try to get around an hour of spending time here on my story and even an hour isn't enough when I only get about half a page done within that time span (that's how much I care about my writing—spending so much time on such little pieces).

Also, I would like to apologize for those who don't like or disapprove of additional characters when that character isn't even in the anime/manga that this story is categorized in. I know when I read other fics, I don't like that as much as well. But please remember the plot and outline of this story. There is _very_ limited amount of characters as well as the fact that CCS lacks older character support. Because of this, I have to make my own character that can provide support for Syaoran and Sakura because they are still at a young age in my story. And like one of my reviewers stated (**Crazy and Proud**), what are the chances of the last few people on Earth be around the same age? So that's why I stayed away from characters like Tomoyo, Eriol, and etc.

Well, that was my little _rant_ for the chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this and remember . . . spend just a fraction of your minute to send me your reviews and thoughts. Thank all of you so much.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Nine…  
**Goodbye

* * *

I expected to move out of Tomoeda a lot faster, but instead, Funata wanted to take a _quick_ detour. I didn't mind, it was only noon. But where did we go? She took us into an armory store that I had no idea existed up until now. The building seemed like an old shack. The windows were broken and the room seemed almost collapsing. Kind of like how I was in front of the radio tower, I was scared to enter.

Funata tried to open the door, but it was locked. She gestured for Sakura and I to wait, and so we did as she disappeared into the back and around the place. A minute or so later, she came from inside the building and waved us in. I was half surprised and wondering about how she got in.

As I looked inside, the place was and mellow. But as she switched the lights on, a question bumped me that I just had to ask.

"_Them_ . . . the _things_ . . . how come they seem to be hurt by the light?" First the rat, and just the other night—both avoided light. It seemed questionable for me. I'm sure it didn't matter; in fact, it's probably to only reason we're able to live in the day. But it's still something I'd like to know.

All Funata did was shrug and came up with her best simple explanation. "From what I can tell, the radiation must've weakened their skin—if it makes any sense—so their more vulnerable to light, which explains that they don't come out during the day—thank the spirits for that. Again,"—she shrugged—"I'm no expert, just throwing things out."

I understood. I'm sure I didn't even know how I would have explained things. But at least she said it with simple words. I remember one girl at school who used top grade words like melancholic or hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia . . . she really hated long words. But then when it comes to explaining what she said, she couldn't do it. I hate those people, I really did.

"I think we should give them a name." I suggested. Both Funata and Sakura stared at me for a long moment. "What?"

"They're not our pets, Syaoran-kun." said Funata.

"But I get tired calling them _them_ and _they_."

"Then what would you suggest? Bio molecular super human freaks? Because that's what they are."

For a minute I gave it a thought. I liked it, but it seemed a bit too long. I wanted to shorten it down and when a scramble finally came up, I shared it.

"Biofreaks." I said. "Simple as that, biofreaks."

Funata rubbed her head. I wasn't sure if she was trying to figure out a better name or tried to get rid the, _I can't believe we're naming them_ feeling. Whatever she thought about, she gave me a deceiving look, then shrugged with a strong sigh.

"Biofreaks it is, let's go." she said and walked back inside the armory as if we've never had this conversation. Sure, it may have been quite random, but you wouldn't just want to name your pet _it_ or _them_ would you? It would've gotten boring or tiresome after a while.

With Sakura in hand, I followed. Inside I was quite surprised on how big the place actually was. To the left I saw weapons of steel from longswords to warhammers. To the right were arrows, bows and other small daggers. I held my own dagger tight beside me, never letting it out of my sight.

Though I was amazed at these weapons, we waltzed through the aisles and found ourselves in the back of the place. Around us—now—were firearms of all sorts. Shotguns left and pistols right. As we stopped, I gaped towards Funata who gave the two of us a smile.

"For precaution, I'd like you guys to learn how to at least _shoot_ a gun." she said holding out her own pistol. "Plus I'd like to change guns as well."

My eyes widened. I've never handled a gun before—a real one—and I really didn't feel comfortable trying it. I could see on Sakura's face that she wasn't so fond of the idea herself. But when it comes to surviving, I had to give it a go.

We started small. There happened to be a door that leads down to a lower level where there was a shooting range. It ranged from a few feet to, what I had to guess, about thirty yards. Funata handed me an earmuff, warning me that once I put it on, it'd be difficult to hear her. Because of that, she gave me instructions before hand and hoped that I would remember.

After her explanation of parts and how to work one, she gave me a fairly small pistol. An SM90 she said it was called. She left me alone and headed around to another shooting slot with Sakura. I slapped the earmuffs on and to my surprise; everything about me suddenly went silent. The only thing I could hear was my heart beating and myself think.

My target was about twenty yards away. I took the pistol with both my hands and aimed the muzzle at the human outlines target. I aimed for the center of the chest and pulled the trigger. The noise of the pistol was like a tap on the desk and the recoil was weak but surprisingly strong for the size of the firearm. I shot a few more times before turning the safety back on and setting the gun down to the side. I took off my muffs with a sigh and watched my hands shake. It was the first time I'd ever shot a real gun; for some reason, the feeling felt well, but wasn't as good as when I swung my little 'jaken around.

As a gunshot soared in my ears, I couldn't help but to flinch. Then when Sakura screamed, I panicked and ran around to her slot.

"Sakura!" I yelled once I got there. Sakura turned with the pistol in hand and just as Funata panicked and told her to drop the pistol, Sakura jumped back and let the pistol fall to the floor. As it collided with the solid ground, the trigger popped and a shot fired. I did what my reaction told me to do and fell to the floor with my hands over my head. A second later, I heard a piercing sound behind me and looked back to see a bullet hole in a wall through a score paper.

"Syaoran, don't do that again!" yelled Sakura.

"Who told you to scream?" I retorted.

"I was surprised by the sound—and Oneesan told me to drop it!"

"Because you were pointed the gun at him!" replied Funata. "You could've shot him!"

"I could've shot my husband!" repeated Sakura.

"_Future_ husband." corrected Funata.

"_Could've?_ You almost _did_ shoot me!" I said.

We had more exchange of senseless arguing, but in the end, Sakura sat back with muffs on and only watched and Funata and I practiced our shooting. About fifteen minutes later, I was told to pull up my target and from there, we examined it.

Out of twenty-one shots I fired, fifteen of them were around the head. I couldn't say or tell of I was surprised that I did good or bad.

"Where did you aim?" asked Funata. I said around the chest area. "Remember that. It's just simple math calculations. Twenty yards out, when you aim, the bullets will generally shoot higher. Then as you get farther or closer, just change your aim." I understood well.

"But," I started. "I prefer my ninjaken."

Funata nodded. "That's fine. But when the time comes, you might have to use a gun."

It wasn't that hard to understand, but I was sure that everything would be harder actually doing it than just thinking about it and acknowledging it.

After Funata restocked on ammunition for her own firearm, I gave myself a thought about actually taking one myself—one firearm that is. There were small compact ones that I would assume that I knew how to use. But at the same time I don't think I felt safe holding one, especially around Sakura. Pondering about my choices lead me to seek further towards the _no_ side, I didn't want to risk anything. Besides, I was sure that my little ninjaken was enough.

Out we went. North towards whichever mountain that Funata talked of. I wasn't sure how we were supposed to survive a whole week. My worst fear was the situation of not being able to find a place to stay for the night. And hopefully the _thin_ layer of forest she talked of is _very_ thin. My gut feeling only grossed me, not making me any better than I wanted to be. Because of that, I just had to ask everything I had thought of.

"We'll try to grab some food on the way. We'll be traveling through several cities before we actually get to the forest and mountain area, so I wouldn't worry about food. But as for our little future predicament . . . it'll take at least a few hours of hiking before we are able to get through the forest. So best we leave early and fast once we reach it—or else we'll be in for quite a night."

Her answers didn't easy the queasiness in me at all. But it was nice to hear about what there was to expect.

When we came upon an empty and almost abandoned-like road, half an hour later, it came clear to me that we were now at the border of Tomoeda. Several cars were opened and damaged and dead grass carpeted the area.

With Sakura's hand laced to mine, the three of us turned around to stare at Tomoeda from the side view.

This was a place I grew up in. This was a place where, even though I'd never admit it in front of anyone, I loved. It broke my heart to know that I was now going to leave it and probably never see it ever again. I didn't want that. But also, I didn't want to stay . . . not now when I know that I have an opportunity to try and find others who might still be alive. Hope . . . it's all hope. I hope that what we're doing will end happy and I hope that where we go will be safe.

"Syaoran," I turned to Sakura who held my arm and looked with me at the city we were leaving behind. "I never knew Tomoeda was this beautiful."

When I thought about it, she was right. Tomoeda didn't seem as beautiful from the inside as it did on the outside. Though the buildings aren't in great shape, I could imagine it lively as if nothing had ever happened; lights would flutter everywhere and the radio tower would be flashing with lights because it was so high. Truly, Tomoeda was beautiful.

"Goodbye." I said to my home. I could feel some tears filling the back of my eyes. But like a man I was going to have to be, I held them back.

I positioned myself behind Sakura and held her with both arms, resting my head on top of her own head—taking advantage of her height—and the two of us stared off at Tomoeda.

"Because of Tomoeda's location," started Funata as she came up to us. "We're going to have to make this trip a quite complicated one."

I turned to her. "Why?"

"We're going to have to cross through Chiba City, then decide whether we want to walk it or take a raft on the small pacific gulf to get to Tokyo. From there we cross Tokyo north to the Oku Shirane Mountains around Nikko."

"That sounds complicated." said Sakura. "And you said it's only a week worth of traveling?"

"Maybe I exaggerated the time and excluded the limited daytime we have. I'll admit, I truly don't know how long this all will take. It all depends on how fast we move."

I sighed. "Then let's go. The mining cave is somewhere in Oku Shirane?"

"I don't have the exact pinpoint location, but I know the general area. I once lived there so I wouldn't worry about getting lost around there."

Stepping aside for a moment; sometimes I wonder: does destiny exist? Are our lives predetermined? I'm not asking this from a religious standpoint but just from the normal generalized point of view. My life, as I've said earlier, was nothing but boredom throughout. But then one day, something dramatic happens and now everything has changed.

Not only has so much changed, but it seems like my life is coming together. It's okay, even to me it seems weird for me to say that. But something is finally happening to me. Was this all planned out by something? Was it destiny?

I don't know why, but it was just a thought that came across me.

As I looked at Sakura, I could tell that she's grown over the months. As she looked at Tomoeda, her eyes weren't that of sorrow like they were to me, nor were they of regret. She's one special girl. So many times and even now, she's moved on and learned to adapt. First when NHE happened, she adapted to just the two of us living together, she did it when we first encountered biofreaks—I really thought she'd have nightmares and wouldn't be able to get over them—and now she's moved on away from Tomoeda.

Why couldn't I do that?

"Your one special girl." I couldn't help but to say.

Sakura turned to me and tightened her grip on my hand. "I love you, Syaoran." she said.

Our eyes met for a long moment. Then as my mind attempted to clear Tomoeda out, I said to her, "There is absolutely, _absolutely_ nothing that I wouldn't do for you."

Again, with that said, we were off. Off onto a long travel across Japan with only several hours of daylight a day—and only getting slimmer as the months past due to upcoming winter—and not knowing if the mining hole even had survivors. We were leaning on a very slim estimate.

* * *

**Yeah I think this is probably the shortest chapter I've written.  
Just past the 5 page mark if you were wondering.**

**And uhh, guess what's so perfect about Tomoada? Guess, guess!  
It's a fictional place! Meaning that I get to place it wherever I choose.  
This makes knowing the geography so much easier.  
Whew...  
But I hope you enjoyed and please review!  
Any questions, please send in a review as well and I will answer on the next chapter.**

**Oh, also news alert regarding my partner in this account and her stories. Profile is updated with the news and it'll be at the very top of the page as well.**


	10. Dreams

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** Sorry for the long wait. But it's Thanksgiving break! So i'll be sure to update another chapter this week. But please enjoy and don't forget to review. xD

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Ten…  
**Dreams

* * *

Sometimes I tell myself: this is just a dream and I'll wake up eventually into a better and more beautiful world. Then I would pant with sweats running down my face as if everything was all just a nightmare. But then I think to myself: would I really want this? Would I really want to wake up? I hated my life as it was.

The thing about dreams is that, though it may sound vague, it's the real unconscious thought within you, the truth that you would try to deny but can't. So did that mean that I really _did_ want to wake up into a real world? I don't know.

When I looked up at the brightly lit white ceiling, all I could do was imagine myself floating on a vast ocean. Everything was smooth and calm and the skin I felt beside me couldn't be any smoother. I turned to my side to see Sa—no.

It wasn't Sakura, but instead a girl with long black hair. Her eyes were flushed orange and bright with yellow shades. I didn't know her, but for some reason it seemed as if we were connected.

Urgently, I jumped away from her and off the bed, startling the girl to death. I took one moment to clarify that she was someone I had never met before, and then said, "Who are you?"

She looked at me as if the question I had asked was a joke, a failed joke that she was supposed to laugh at but didn't. She pulled the covers over her and said, "What do you mean?" her voice concerned and shaky.

I blinked. "Who are you?" My voice boomed.

The girl was now in fear, terrified at me. "Y—your wife . . . Syaoran-kun . . ."

My brows met. My wife? I had not seen this girl once in my entire life and here she is telling me that she's my wife? I don't even think I recall myself ever getting married. This was some kind of joke. I was sure of it. "Where is she? Sakura, where is she?"

"Sakura? who is she?"

"Don't play games with me . . . where's my fiancé?"

The girl stared at me prettified. Though everything she was saying didn't make any sense to me at all, I was beginning to think that it was the same to her as well. "What fiancé? I'm your wife!" she said.

"_No!_" My body took control over me and suddenly I found myself tackling the girl across the bed. She screamed, but I held her mouth shut. For a whole minute, I found myself chocking her, but as she struggled, I let loose of her and pushed her to the side. She couched and tried to recollect herself.

I was devastated to see what I had just done. I harmed a girl . . . my wife? I was going to make an attempt to care for her, but I felt a strong presence behind me and quickly turned.

It was Madness staring me straight in the eye. He veered past with his eyes and to the girl hurdled on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

The mere image of me only smiled like he always seemed to do. For a moment he was silent, then he finally said, "I want to know too."

My eyes widened. "Know what?"

"Who this . . . _Sakura_ girl is."

Now the game was being played by him. Already I was starting to get sick and tired of it all. I had the strong urge to give him a fist to the mouth. Even though the temptation was strong, I forced myself to hold back.

"Quit playing games with me." I muttered.

"What games?" replied Madness. "She doesn't even exist. She was only a small fragment of your imagination. She doesn't exist. You only believe you see her because you want to see her. She doesn't exist. If anything, _you_ are the one playing games here."

"No, you're lying!"

Madness shook his head. "Looks like you'll just have to learn the hard way."

"Shut up!"

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

I woke up with a start; sweats running down my face and my breath panting heavily. The scenery changed. Instead of a bright room, everything was dark with a shade of dimness from a night light across the room. Outside, the moon shun brightly in the night. Then I remembered what had happened.

We were only able to travel about fifteen miles before the sky started to darken. It wasn't much of course, but we were lucky enough to find a half broken down shed a couple miles away from a small village. We decided to rest up and continue on early morning. The only bad thing about it was that we had almost no light to protect us. Or was it good news? Light to protect or no light to hide? Do the biofreaks even travel in the middle of nowhere?

But to alter the subject, what Madness said in my dream seemed to haunt me. She's only a small fragment of my imagination? No, it can't be true, it's not true. I must be losing my sanity again to be thinking this. I think I was. No . . .

I twirled, found a door through the darkness of the room and quickly ran out the room. I turned a corner and found dim light at the end of the hallway. I followed it and found Sakura and Funata both playing cards, light illuminating above them.

"Sakura!" I didn't wait for her to notice me. Quickly, I tackled her from her chair to the floor. I knew I hurt her, but for some reason, I didn't think I cared.

"Ah—Syaoran!" she cried as we hit the floor. I felt myself wrapping my arms tightly around her neck, then before I knew it, I started crying. For a moment, I could feel Funata staring over us like she hadn't expect such a change in scenery, but she didn't bother to ask why I did what I did or even pull me apart from Sakura. All Sakura did was stroke my hair. "It's okay . . . I'm here." she said, seeming to understand.

Was she real? Or was I imagining this too? Everything she just said . . . was I imagining that? The soft hand that stroked through my hair, is that also just my imagination? What if it was? This whole life I've been living. All just a dream.

I'm sure it was. Maybe Madness-kun was right.

"You liar." I heard myself say.

"Huh?" The stroking on my hair stopped.

I pushed myself off from her and backed up almost unbalanced. "You're lying." Sakura got up and looked confused. She opened her mouth to say something, but I broke in first. "You're not real, you're nothing!"

"Syaoran-kun, what's wrong with you?" I could hear Funata say.

I turned to her. "Get away from me you fake!" I yelled. I drew out my ninjaken and held it tight in front of me. First I held it in between Funata and me, then to Sakura. "It's impossible . . . no one should be alive."

"Syaoran, put that down, please!" pleaded Sakura.

I wouldn't do such a thing. Though I wanted to let go of the blade, I just couldn't. My body was crying, my head was complaining and my muscles were confused. I didn't know what to do. It all made so much sense but also it all didn't make any sense. I didn't get it. I heard a _click_ and right then I knew that Funata had her pistol pointing right at me, but I ignored it. She gave me a warning, but I didn't hear it because everything else inside me was crying.

"Syaoran, please put the blade down!" cried Sakura. Oh did she plead with everything she had.

I took a step towards her.

"Don't you get any closer, Syaoran-kun!" warned Funata.

After a warning shot, my ears rang loudly. Suddenly, I became dizzy and everything around me started to echo. I could hear the voice of Madness, the wife in my dream, Funata, and Sakura all yelling at me; each telling me what to do. Madness told me that everyone was not real, my dream wife told me to stop and drop the blade, Sakura did the same, and Funata kept warning me to back off.

"_Shut up!"_ I yelled and jabbed the blade into my forearm.

The feeling of my own blood slowly dripping down my forearm was disgusting. For some reason though, I didn't feel anything. No pain, no blade . . . nothing. But then as my eyes closed, I heard one last thing from Madness:

"The only thing that lives now, Syaoran-chan, is madness." His voice faded.

I caught my breath, panted, and yelled out to him. "I thought I told you to _go away!_" A moment later, I blacked out.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

This time, when I woke up, I had Sakura sleeping by my side. Now I wasn't sure if this was a dream or not. Or . . . was what I just witnessed myself do a dream itself? And the thing before that was a dream within a dream?

Pain shot through my left arms and when I looked, it was heavily bandaged—almost to the point where it looked like an actual cast. My question was answered.

When Sakura nudged in my arms, she woke. Our eyes locked and tears started to peek out from behind me eyes. I couldn't even tell myself to look at Sakura so I turned away, feeling ashamed and weak. I was the only one who's going insane. I'm the only one who can't control myself . . . I can't control my sanity or madness. I was weak.

"Did you have a dream?" I asked out of curiosity, still turned.

For a moment, Sakura gave it a though, trying to remember if she had a dream, then nodded. "I did."

"Was it a good one?"

"It was you and me—" she set her head on my chest "—on the day of our wedding. I was in a bright white dress and you were in a black tuxedo—very handsome might I say."

I managed a small laugh. "How far did you go before you woke up?"

"To your vow."

"There is nothing, absolutely nothing that I, Li Syaoran, wouldn't do for you."

Sakura smiled and that brightened my life just a bit. "Funny," she said. "Because that's exactly what you said to me in my dream." she nosed over and gave me a kiss on my lips.

After we let go, I said, "You broke your promise to me."

"I did? What promise?"

"I said that if Madness ever comes back . . . kill him."

It took a moment, but Sakura finally answered. "But he _didn't_ come back. Do you know why? Because I believed that my fiancé, Li Syaoran, was strong enough to fight him. You did it again, see?" she pointed to my bandaged forearm. "Twice he came and twice he went. So I don't have to worry because Syaoran is strong."

Was I supposed to be happy that she said all those? Should I feel bad that I was weak enough for madness to strike me again, or should I be happy to know that I was able to fight off madness _after_ losing sanity.

"You're underestimating your own will power, Syaoran."

Silence broke in. Then I said, "Or are you just overestimating my will power?"

"You think so negative . . . I wish you would stop doing that."

A small laugh found its way out from me. "You really _are_ a strong little girl."

Funata came in with her arms crossed. She looked at me and before I could avoid her eyes, we were locked on. I had a fright feeling run down my spine. For the first minute or so, I tried to guess what was roaming her mind. Did the way I act make her think differently of me? A part of me really hoped that she didn't. But again, maybe she has the rights to think differently if she felt it.

"G—good morning." I said hesitantly.

She gave me a look, then said, "We should get going."

I could tell she was hiding the matter behind her. As should I too I guess. Unless it happens _again_, the thought would only be a bother and hinder us from getting to our destination. So within the next seven minutes or so, we were ready and leaving.

We moved fast. Though we only walked, it was enough for me to tire out, but I kept at it. The morning is pretty much dead. The body isn't fully awake so you usually have to keep your mental power strong until the body can catch up.

After a few miles, which surprisingly took only about half an hour of walking—for the last half mile I carried Sakura on my back—we came upon the entrance of a ghostly village. The perimeter from what I could see into the distance was staked with wooden pikes. I didn't think there would be such a rural place right outside of Tomoeda. Then again I've never been outside of Tomoeda so I shouldn't be the one to talk.

"You can put me down now." said Sakura. I opened up and set her down. Together, we took one strong look around the village. Just the way it looked sent chills down my back. "Kind of scary."

Funata and I couldn't agree more. "And we have to go through here?"

"It's the morning, we shouldn't have problems at all." said Funata.

I shuddered. "I just have a scary feeling." Sakura slipped her hand in mine and we continued in.

Inside was like any other ghost town you'd imagine. The only thing it was missing was a bouncing tumbleweed. The houses were built from straws and wood on the base. The village was quiet. I really didn't want to say it was _too _quiet but it was really hard to say it _wasn't_. It's like something you'd see in the movies or in a strange manga.

My eyes wandered around. Behind one small straw house I saw a pair of legs flat on the ground, its body hiding behind the house. I pulled Sakura in, making sure she didn't see the horrific sight. Then I had a feeling: some of _them_ were here, hiding inside the sheds.

As we passed the sheds, I took hard looks at each and every one of them. Each, I can imagine the biofreaks just sitting in there, waiting for a good time to attack—as if the expectation of us was to stay until night fall. Sad enough to answer, we had no intentions of doing that. But it didn't mean that I wasn't curious to test my assumptions.

I said it before: men, such curious beings.

"How far is Chiba City from the end of the forest?" the urge to ask was overwhelming.

Funata shrugged. "A few miles?" Her eyes flashed as she stared off to the side. "A well . . . I'm going to go see if there's any water in it."

I looked past her to where she looked and sure enough, there was a well. I pulled Sakura towards Funata and said, "Go with her."

"What about you?" asked Sakura.

"There's something I want to check on."

"Okay then."

Sakura left with Funata. When they were off in the far distance I headed to the opposite end and around one shed. I don't want to make it seem like I have a sixth sense, but I felt a calm but yet frightened presence within the shed. I took a few rounds around it before approaching its door. The door itself was even made of straws and woods.

When I opened it, the smell of dead and blood blustered into my face. I could feel my stomach start to growl and vomit starting to make its way up my throat. I covered my mouth with both my hands and turned from the smell. After a moment, I turned back into the dark shed. It was everything I'd expect it to be—rotten, dirty, and disgusting.

The sound of banging and groaning spooked me. Though it was dark, I could see a figure moving inside. I followed it with my eyes and as soon as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I was sure of what I saw. His figure was broad, but like the others, his skin was burnt and full of deep cuts. His breathing was hard, almost as if he fought for every breath he took.

"_Ketsuui . . ._" It spoke. Did it really?

"Ketsuui?" I repeated after him.

He flinched as if it was the first time he saw me and he was surprised. He twitched, then charged at me saying the same name he said before, "_Ketsuui!_"

At first I backpedaled, but once I realized that he was trying to attack me, I turned and sprinted out. The light beamed in my eyes for a moment, but I quickly adjusted. I felt a quick and stenchy breeze blow by me and it was then when I tripped over my legs. I turned and pulled out my blade, and reacted with the first thing that came to my mind. I held my blade in front of me and as the body fell upon me, all I heard was a roar of pain and the weight of the body falling on me.

Now the biofreak was hanging over me, blood falling from his mouth and onto my neck. The last thing he said before I assumed he died was, "Ketsuui . . ."

"Ketsuui?" I repeated again. Pushing him off, I drew my ninjaken from him and stood with heavy breathing. Though I should be scared, the name he whispered struck me even more.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Sakura's voice calling out to me. Before I could turn to her, she had already wrapped me in a bind.

"Syaoran are you okay?" she cried.

"Y—yeah."

"What happened?" asked Funata, she had her pistol drawn in a ready position.

I shook my head. "N—nothing. It just—did you get any water?"

Funata looked at me suspiciously. I tried to smile, but I knew she saw pass it all. "No, it was empty." she trailed off for a while but then added, "So how does it feel to kill someone?" she said putting away her firearm.

I knelt down to the mutated man and paid my respects. "He still had sanity."

"Excuse me?"

"This . . . man . . . he still had sanity." I turned to Sakura and Funata. "He was calling out a name—Ketsuui—someone he probably knows. It's as if he was actually thinking!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Funata-san, you said that some mutate sooner or later than others right? What if the mutation can also be strong or weaker than others as well?"

"So what you're saying then is that this man here was a biofreak, but at the same time held his human capabilities and thoughts."

I nodded. "Ketsuui—it was probably someone important to him."

"Well whether it _is_ someone important to him or not, we're wasting valuable time so we have to get going."

Our objective suddenly intruded into my mind once again. Funata was right. We had to continue as much as we can before it gets too dark. I sheathed my ninjaken and after another minute to recuperate our minds, we were off. But before we left, I knelt beside the man once more and closed his eyes for respect. Also, I would carry out the name that he couldn't. From now on, the name of my ninjaken would be Ketsuui.

I was never a man to show emotion. But I was always a man who carried respect wherever I went whether I did a bad deed or not.

"We better pray we have a place to stay before nightfall." said Funata. She looked at me as if to blame me if we _didn't_ have a place to stay.

The only thing I did was nod.

It was another mile or so after the village when Funata stopped me. Sakura didn't seem to notice us stopped so she kept walking forward. From the looks on her face though, it was exactly what she wanted.

"I didn't want to say this in front of her . . . but—" she trailed off. "If you ever have a breakdown like that again and come harm to either of us . . . I _will_ take you down."

I took a deep breath in and exhaled. I watched as Sakura continued to walk, clueless of our halt. When my eyes met Funata's, I could see that what she said was extremely serious. I couldn't agree more.

"Ever since I met her, I've always lived to keep her happy and well. If the time ever comes, I don't think she'll have what it takes to keep our promise. So . . . please do so." My look to her was just as serious as hers was to me.

"Why'd you two stop?" Sakura called out. I turned back to her and sprinted to her side, took her hand in mine and continued our way to Chiba.

"Sorry, I stumbled a bit."

* * *

**Gah! I hope you enjoyed!  
And I just want to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving week!! xD**

**Black Friday FTW!**

**But also I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review! Or if you have any questions, go ahead and ask it in the review and I'll reply to you by PM or on the next chapter.**


	11. Storm

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n: **I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know that my Thankgiving was full of waking up at 2AM just to go Black Friday shopping at the Mall of America. Quite fun it was. Well here's the next chapter, and hope you enjoy! Don't forget to review :D

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**  
Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Eleven…  
**Storm

* * *

"No, no, no she didn't!" yelled Sakura.

I nodded. "Oh, believe it princess, she did."

"I don't believe you!"

"Well you should!"

"Liar!"

"Liar?"

"Liar!"

"The two of you have been rattling on about this for ten minutes, what on earth are you guys even talking about?" Funata finally intervened.

"Yuuki kissed Zero." I said.

"No!" Sakura cried.

Surprisingly, Funata knew exactly what we were talking about. "It's true, he did."

"_No!_" Sakura cried again. "Kaname, it should have been Kaname! How come in the anime they didn't show that?"

"Because the manga is the _true_ story." Which was exactly why I preferred manga over anime any day.

"She didn't read the manga?" Funata asked.

I shook my head. "She hates reading."

"Poor thing—"

"Yuuki was my hero!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Keyword . . ."

"_Was_." Funata answered for me.

The two of us knuckled and could only watch in despair as Sakura went on crying about how much she hated the Yuuki and Zero pairing. I thought Kaname was bad enough in the manga, but when I heard him talk in his monotone voice in the anime, I just wanted to voice over him.

The good news was, we managed to get to the forest within the afternoon after we decided to speed walk for the most part. The bad news—or was it good?—there forest was no more, partly destroyed by the nuclear bombs that was launched. All that was left of it now were broken down trees with no leaves.

There was something amazing about what the nuke had done though. Believe it or not, it created a small semi roof. The best way to explain it would be to just imagine a tidal wave frozen but on hard ground and about eighty feet from the forest. Before it got dark, we were able to set up a small camp there. We decided that it'd be best to travel the next morning rather than try to go though tonight.

"Knowing that this forest got hit is a good thing." said Funata. She sparked two rocks together for a bit, then eventually, created a small fire for us.

"How's that a good thing?"

"Chiba City is a highly well known place. I'm sure that it got bombed as well. From the looks of the forest here, it wasn't bombed directly, meaning it was hit with a wave of the explosion from somewhere else."

"Chiba City." I understood it now. Chiba got bombed and the wave the nuclear weapon set out was what happened to the forest. I was sure that if the forest actually got bombed, it'd be nothing but a wasteland. "So it means we don't have to worry about biofreaks chasing us then."

"That's the idea."

"Does that mean Tokyo will be safe when we get to it?" Sakura suddenly jumped it.

Funata nodded. "The most well known place in Japan _should_ be ceased to exist."

"I don't like the sound of _should_." I added.

"Possibilities are always possible."

Sighing at the matter, I leaned back against the one and only wall the wave-like roof had. The fire was weak but it was strong enough to illuminate our circle and keep me surprisingly warm. The sky darkened fast. Now I wondered if the fire would give away our position. I didn't want any trouble from them, especially since I had the person in my arms to care for, so I had to ask.

"It doesn't seem like they travel." was Funata's answer. "For some reason, they tend to roam around the same area. So I wouldn't worry. Also, I'll keep watch just in case so don't be afraid to go to sleep."

"What about you, Funata-san?" worried Sakura.

Funata smiled. "Adults don't need as much sleep as you kids do."

Though it wasn't a matter anymore, I still felt like bringing it up. A little bit of comic relief after all the things we've been through wouldn't be bad.

"Oi, Sakura." When she looked up at me I took the chance and said, "Yuuki and Zero forever."

She flinched and quickly made a somber face. She then dug her face into my chest and yelled, "No, shut up shut up shut up!"

Funata and I laughed.

After another ten minutes or so, I fell asleep.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

I woke with a start. My mouth was covered with a cold hand, but as I tried to fight out of it, I was beaten down and a soft _shhhh_ sung into my ears. Then when it all came clear, it was Funata covering my mouth. When I looked down at Sakura, she covered her own mouth with her two hands and backed up farther against the wall.

When she was sure that I would control myself, Funata uncovered her hand from my mouth and dug herself deeper back against the wall as well. Basic reactions; I did the same. The fire was out and the sky was still dark. I wasn't sure if it was late night or early morning, but the moon still shimmered brightly with an ocean of stars illuminating the sky.

"They're moving." said Funata quietly.

In the distance, I could see groups of human-like outlines running across the field. Immediately I knew who—or what—they were. This shocked me completely. I hadn't expected this. I didn't know they would actually move. But why were they moving? Were they trying to get somewhere? Did they really have a mind? If so, then they must have an objective in mind; but what was it?

To my right I heard cracks of grass and broken down wood. A shadow crossed us as a figure about six foot started to slowly wade its way around us. Its breath was extremely heavy. Like the earlier one in the village, it was as if it was fighting for every breath it took. The pant it gave was hard and the saliva that drooled was thick.

I heard Funata cock her pistol. The clicking noise it made drew the biofreak's attention. As more figures started to race across the field under the moon, the idea of shooting the one coming towards us seemed more like a horrible one. One shot would be loud enough and we would probably be swarmed by them. I patted Funata to let her know that I disapproved. I wondered if she understood it.

But I didn't want to wait and find out. I drew Ketsuui and waited for the biofreak to get closer. It crept closer and closer. Finally, I took my chance. I swung in forward and caught it by the throat. I felt a warm liquid hit my arm and the mutated freak dropped dead. I then backed up as much as I could and joined Sakura by my side. It was another ten minutes or so before the last figure passed the field. After that, though we didn't feel like it, fell back to sleep.

**B I O**_**—FREAK**_

The next morning was a quiet one. Our plans were still the same, but now we had to be more careful. Instead of running _away_ from them now, we had to travel in the same direction they did if we wanted to reach our destination. Now, for sure, we know that the sunlight was our only way of knowing that we weren't going to be attacked.

"Now what?" asked Sakura.

We stood at the front of the once before forest. We didn't know how long it would take for us to cross, but we knew he had to cross it before it got dark.

"Pray." I said.

"And move fast."

"Let's go!"

The first thing I did was jump over a log that was in the way. Then after that, it was bruises and cuts from branches for the next hour. I was tired, climbing over broken down trees, avoiding branches that wouldn't move and constantly looking around for routes without taking detours was gruesome. I knew that Funata and Sakura found it tiring as well, but like I did, they hid the pain away. I was especially proud of Sakura. So proud, I actually found myself halted and staring at her as she tried to get over an obstacle.

"What is it?" she said, finally getting through.

I shook my head. "Nothing." Then continued.

Half an hour later, I felt a slight slope coming from the mountain. Were we suddenly going uphill? When I looked forward, I had to slightly tilt up to see the remaining forest.

"This'll get tiresome." as if it wasn't already.

"This forest is part of a small mountain that connects to property of Chiba City. There's also a river here that leads straight into the gulf." said Funata.

For the next half hour, we continued upwards until we were finally on flat ground. I wasn't sure if we were actually on top of this hill-like forest or just on some sort of circular catwalk it had, but either way I was glad to not be walking against gravity so much.

I heard a stumble behind and saw Sakura on her knees, panting. I quickly kneeled down by her and set a hand on her back. "Want me to carry you?" I asked.

She gave me a strange look, then said, "No. Syaoran will be even more tired if he has to carry me."

"Fine then, let's rest."

Sakura looked up at me and retorted, "No! I don't want me to be slowing us down. I don't care if I'm tired, let's keep going."

"Quit trying to be brave." Funata entered in. "We're all tired and it's only about noon. We have several hours left before nightfall and traveling tired will slow us down either way. So I'm with Syaoran, let's rest."

Sakura turned away, feeling shamed and embarrassed.

During the break, Funata sat against the bunk of a broken down tree and examined her pistol. Sakura and I sat next to each other. We didn't have another random Vampire Knight discussion, but instead had something that was actually related to our situation.

"If you ever get tired, I'll carry you." I offered.

She didn't seem to take what I said lightly. "Quit treating me like a baby."

"I just don't want you to get hurt." I said.

"And so what, you'll take my pain for me? Forget it; I'm not going to let you do that."

Her voice changed from calm to anger. Then I guess it triggered into me as well. "What's with that attitude? All I'm doing is caring for you."

"If you call _treating me like a baby_ caring, then sure, I guess you are. But that's not how I want to be treated."

"Hey now—"

"I can be independent too, you know?" she interrupted me. "Just because you and Funata-san are much older than me doesn't mean that I need help here and there and every single minute that passes by. You look down on me too much, Syaoran. I wish you could stop."

It was true. I understood everything she said. Maybe I did baby her a bit too much. But isn't that part of caring? Was it? Or was it not? If anything were to happen to her, I'd lose my will to even live on. "I'm sorry." I said. "It's just that—I can't stand seeing you in agony."

"And you don't think I feel the same way? You're seeing me in agony because of what we're trying to accomplish, but if you end up carrying me, then I'll be seeing _you_ in agony because of _me_! Do you know how much that hurts me?"

It took me a minute or to register it all in my head. Right after, I felt horrible, but at the same time happy to know that she cared for me so much.

"You really _are_ stronger than me." I smiled.

A smile crossed Sakura's face as well. "And, hypothetically speaking, after a conversation like this, the two people would usually kiss, right?"

I got up. "Nope." and started to make my way to Funata.

"O—oi! Your fiancé is trying to show some affection here, you don't just reject her!" she yelled.

Smiling as I felt her presence irk behind me, I turned and caught her in a surprise. I wrapped an arm around her waist and set a hand on her shoulder pressed my lips against hers. Now that I actually think about it, this was my first time that _I_ actually kissed Sakura. It was sweet, tasteful. Her lips were firm and my cheeks started to flare.

"Hey!" I heard Funata yell. "No PDA; I haven't said _you may now kiss the bride_ so break it up!"

The two of us ignored her for another five seconds. Then as we parted, our eyes fluttered open and I saw sparkles in Sakura eyes for the first time.

"Can you walk?" I asked calmly.

"Can we hold hands?" she asked. I nodded.

"You two are _too_ young to be sweet talking!" Funata yelled.

**B I O**_**—FREAK**_

Later that early afternoon, it started to rain—really hard. Because there were no trees with thick leaves to protect us, we got belted pretty hard. This was the first time I've seen rain. I guess the closer we got to the actual nuclear site, the less radiation there was. The clouds overhead covered the sun almost completely, meaning we needed a place to hide. Fast.

Just as I thought the situation couldn't get worst, the wind started to pick up. Now instead of just being beaten by rain on the top of our heads, the wind adjusted the rains movement and now we were being pelted in the face.

I heard some sort of screaming from Funata, but she couldn't beat out the sound of the wind and rain. From what I could see through the storm, it was something urgent. She seemed to be pointing somewhere but I didn't know where.

Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath me start to shift. I lost my balance and quickly fell to my knees. Through the storm, I had no idea where we were. I wasn't sure if we were on an actual slope or on flat ground. But once I started to slide to my left, I guessed that an answer was given.

Quickly, I tried to pull myself up by grabbing whatever I could find. The ground beneath me started to shift even more and collapse. Luckily, Sakura and Funata were there to help me out of my predicament. When I looked down to where I could've been, I saw nothing but darkness. I couldn't even tell how high up we were or if there was anything down there.

I was pulled one way by Funata and held Sakura's hand on my other side. Though I didn't see where we were going, I knew Funata had some kind of idea.

Only a few moments after I had just survived a fall, I felt a tug from behind me. Again I dropped to my knees, but this time it was because the ground underneath Sakura had given up.

"Sakura, hold on!" I cried through the storm, hoping that she would hear me. She was now dangling off what I guessed was a cliff. I couldn't see, but it was my simple guess. The only thing that saved her from a fall from an unknown altitude was me.

Funata came up and tried to reach for Sakura, but couldn't. Then she started to pull me up instead. The storm raged and howled too loud. I saw Sakura yelling, trying to say something, but I couldn't hear her. Worst yet, the rain started to lubricate my hand so—no . . .

"Sakura, don't let go!" I cried again. I could see her facial expression, scared and sad. She tried to say something back to me, but I couldn't hear her.

My grip to her slipped, slipped, slipped.

Then, Sakura was nowhere in front of me anymore. She was gone. I had her in my grasp, I had her in my hand and . . . and I couldn't hold on.

"_No_!" I screamed. "_Sakura!_" I did what my reaction told me to do, dive after her. But Funata had already pulled me to my feet and started dragging me by locking me into her arms. I struggled to fight out with all my might. I cried Sakura's name over and over again. I couldn't see where I was going, but it wasn't hard figuring out where—the darkness. "_Sakura!_"

Finally, I was able to beat out Funata and crawl to where I last saw Sakura. Then I felt a thud at the back of my head.

After that, I blacked out.

* * *

**I hope you liked it.  
Truth be told, I wasn't really thinking about adding this part in...  
but it seemed to expand the story a bit, so I did xD**

**Oh, and from all the way in Japan, my friend (writer of The Howling Wolf in Cherry Storms) is writing again FROM Japan.  
And she has just started a story of her own on this account. So if you have nothing else to read or want to read another story from her,  
please, I'd suggest reading her story. I think it'll be quite a fun one.**

**"Where the Ocean Meets the Sky" is the name of her story and it is up on our profile.**

**It's listed as romance/tragedy so... :O**


	12. Flicker

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** Oh my... what to say? Sorry? Aha, I guess you can tell I haven't updated in a while. Well, again, school & work has been busy. And whenever I did have time to write, I had to overcome such a disturbing block like you wouldn't believe! It's amazingly dumb I tell you. But hey, I'm on winter break now so I'll be doing as much as I can. Well I hoped you all enjoyed your Christmas and hope you'll enjoy New Years too! Oh! And I hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to send me a review. And remember, if you have any questions about anything, send it in a review or PM me.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Twelve…  
**Flicker

* * *

My eyes were closed but I could see reflections wavering like something behind a screen and all I could see were the shadows. The last thing I could remember feeling before knocking out was a very cold beating against the rain and wind. But not now; now I felt warmth. A little coldness sometimes, but nevertheless something was close to me and I was warm.

As my eyes slowly opened, I saw a glow of red and orange flicker in front of me—a fire. Funata sat against a hard curved wall, her pistol in her hand in a ready position. Her eyes glared out at a storm that just continued to rage even harder since the last time I looked at it.

Suddenly, a streak of light brown and amber hair and green eyes flashed in front of me like a faint picture. For some reason, I was able to feel the image; it gave me a cold and wet feeling all around me. I remembered who she was . . . and where she—

"_Sakura!_"

I rumbled to my feet and started sprinting towards an opening. The sound of rain crackled, but I didn't care. Before I was able to reach the outside, my body fell hard against the floor as Funata struggled to keep me away, I could feel her arms strangling around my neck and the butt of her pistol on the side of my hip.

"Syaoran-kun!" yelled Funata "Stop!"

For a moment, I didn't. But as the words finally registered into my head, I froze. I wanted her touch. Her smooth hands, her pursed and luscious lips, her stringy hair—I wanted to feel those again. Though I was sure it's only been a short moment, it feels like it's been years since the last time I saw her.

My will to live . . . my will to go on and continue was gone. Why? Why'd it have to be her? Why'd it have to be now?

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

Funata told me where we were. She told me that we were in a small cave near the tops of the mountain we were on—as if we weren't high enough already. What had happened to Sakura, she didn't know. When I thought that it hadn't been long since I blacked out, I was right. Funata said that it's only been about twenty minutes. It explains why the storm _still_ hadn't settled.

"She's still alive." said Funata. I knew she was just trying to cheer me up. Anyone who could see me just staring at the flickering fire would be able to tell that I was depressed. "I'm sure she is."

"How would you know?" I asked, my voice was frail, "How could you possible know that my fiancé is still alive?" She looked at me like she expected me to know the answer. If she really _was_ thinking that, she's thinking horribly wrong because I didn't know squat. For the moment, I couldn't even remember a simple two plus two, nor what the number even looked like.

"Because you once told me that she was strong. If you truly do believe she's strong, then don't give up on her just yet. I'm sure she would've done the same for you."

As much as I hated to admit it, Funata was right. Though it was so hard to have faith, I knew just as much as Funata that I _did_ have to have faith. But even so, what if _they_ find her? She wouldn't be able to defend herself. Sakura can't fight them off; when I said she was strong, I meant mentally, not physically.

Now, if she really _was_ still alive, the only thing I can do is hope that they don't find her. And would Sakura really do the same as I was supposed to? Or would she just glower into the fire like I did now?

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

I had a dream when I went back to sleep. How did I manage to fall asleep after so much? I don't know. Maybe I cried myself to sleep. But the dream wasn't a dream. It was like I time traveled back to the past. Back to the day of an academy holiday dance about seven months ago . . . no, It actually was the day before NHE.

The dance took place in the back maze of the academy and the gym. Inside, there was a twenty foot tall Christmas tree illuminated with lights of all colors. A crystal star stood on top and lights were hung ten foot from the ceiling.

A girl with long black hair and dark brown eyes walked up to me. Her black dress hung towards her knees and her smile brought butterflies to my stomach. She was as elegant as any one a person would ever find in their life.

"Syaoran-kun!" she smiled. "H—how are you?"

I wasn't the biggest fan of dances, to tell the truth, but I went only because it was something to do that didn't involve going back home. Just the thought of it made me cringe and wither into space for a few moments.

"Good," I said. "and you, Naminé?"

A skinny red blush raced across her face as she stared down at my feet. Then as she rose, seemed to force a smile and said, "G—good . . . umm . . ."

She seemed to be bothered by something. Her eyes were that of a mere child trying to tell her mother she'd done something horrible. She didn't move for the next minute, which got me to think that maybe she was scared to say something, or worried about something else. If so, did she want to tell me? Or was she just hiding something deep?

"Would you like to go for a walk?" I asked. She nodded.

I took her out to the back of the school: the fountain square. It was off limits for the night, but we were able to sneak by just fine. The security chaperons were too busy talking to one another about how they were dragged into this night. I don't blame them. What is there to do?

Where the fountain still ran, we sat down on a marble bench. The bench was cold and hard, almost unbearable for me to sit in. But there were no other places we could've gone where privacy was quiet. Naminé brightened due to the moons shine, but I could tell that she was troubled by something, so the shun from her face meant nothing spectacular. For a moment I thought I saw a shadow flicker of movement in her eyes, like she tried to look at me but quickly turned back.

"You know," I started, trying to break the silence. "Someone once told me: people can be like stars; when you look at them, they seem so close, but in reality, are very, _very_ far apart."

She looked at me. The way she looked I would've guessed that she was trying to configure what I said. Then her eyes widened for a second, like she had deciphered the quote. Just as quickly as she widened her eyes, she frowned and stared at the fountain.

"S—so then do you think . . . _we_ are like the stars?" she asked.

A pause.

"Naminé, you're the only reason why I even come to school every day. You make me laugh, you make me smile, everything . . . but—"

"But . . ."

"I _do_ believe we're like the stars."

I'm sure she knew what I was trying to say. As much as it hurt me to say it, I had to reject her. Even if it meant losing the one friend I cared most for. It wasn't that I wouldn't be happy being with her, I just knew that she wouldn't be happy being with me. Why did I think that? I just do. The way I live and view life—she can't go through that. I won't let her, her joy isn't worth my joy . . . or actually, my joy isn't worth her joy.

"E—even so, Syaoran-kun." she stammered. "A feeling untold is worst than—"

"Syaoran-_chan!_" a voice creaked from behind us.

Before I could register what had happened, I was planted to the floor with a body on top of me. I heard Naminé screaming my name from behind and a familiar voice laughing at me, a voice that I didn't want to be hearing at the moment.

"How you doing buddy?" a cynical voice but yet familiar to my ears.

I turned and pushed the body away. As I got up, I made my way back to Naminé and panted. A second later and the familiar voice matched a familiar person.

"What do you want Anaba?" I asked standing in front of Naminé.

"I was just wondering what happened to you! When we jumped Taka-chan, you just suddenly disappeared from us. What's wrong?"

I stared down. Naminé gasped as she heard what Anaba had said. "Syaoran-kun . . . you—"

"Get out of my life." I said. "I don't care about you guys anymore . . . you guys were nothing but low lives."

"Low lives?" Anaba forced a laugh. "Nice talk for someone who hates his _own_ family."

Though it may have been true, being in the gang with Anaba was worst. Being ignored and hating my own family . . . I was able to handle that. But making other people's lives a misery was completely inhumane for me. That's all I ever did with Anaba. That's all we ever did even when it didn't seem like it. I was sick of it, sick of it all. I wanted it all to stop.

"You can't possibly be saying that you're just going to quit on us, are you? I mean, look at it Syaoran-chan, _we_ are the only family that you ever enjoyed being with. We hung out every day, we bought each other—especially you—food every day, we were there for one another—"

"Yeah, but if only everything we did was right instead of wrong." I retorted. "Buying food? You did nothing but steal."

"—and remember that if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have met Naminé there."

I could feel the argument starting to heat up to another level. It was like I had the power to feel everyone's movements and feelings; I could feel Naminé suddenly shifting around as confusion struck her. Anaba in front of me gave an evil grin as if he knew this was a battle I had lost. Anger overwhelmed me. Too many things have been said about me that I didn't want Naminé to hear.

"Syaoran-kun, what does he mean?"

I didn't get to answer. The images around me flickered and disappeared.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

My eyes opened slowly. I wanted to continue the dream because even I forgot what happened next. Suddenly, my past seemed to be so puzzled. I couldn't even remember my real family the way I wanted to. The friends had school, all a blur; and even Naminé, I tend to forget how she looked and what she sounded like when she talked. But as I got to my feet, the thoughts vanished when I saw Funata sitting near the front of the cave staring out at the storm that still continued to run. The fire burned big, keeping the two of us warm. When I walked up behind Funata, I looked down over her shoulder and saw her staring at a picture. Suddenly, my heart pounded ferociously as the girl in the picture was no one other than the girl in my dreams, Naminé.

"She's my little sister." said Funata feeling my presence. "She's about your age, maybe a few months younger. Her name's—"

"Naminé." I answered for her.

Funata reacted quite differently than I had imagined. Instead of an urge of asking me how I knew her, she was calm and said, "So you _do_ know her. It wasn't a surprise I guess, she does live in Tomoeda. Before I left for the Navy, she told me that she'd get an answer from the person she liked by the time I got back. Well . . . I came back, a bit over six months ago . . . but it was too late. The stupid war took me away from my sister and the stupid nukes took my sister away from me. What did she ever do, huh? Syaoran-kun, what did _she_ ever do?" It was the first time I had ever seen Funata cry. "My baby sister, I didn't even get to see her . . . not even a good-bye."

All I could do was pat her back. I wanted to do more, truly I did. But what else was there to do? This whole time, I didn't know that I had some kind of connection with Funata. But now that I know this, what was I supposed to say? She wanted to know an answer from her younger sister, but I rejected her. Is that what I was supposed to say? I rejected your little sister? I didn't think it would've made our situation any better so I kept it to myself.

"I didn't know Naminé that well," I lied. "but I'm sure she had an answer to tell you."

"What kind of answer do you think she got?"

"I don't know, but whatever the answer was, I'm sure she took it to heart."

There was a long moment of silence before Funata broke it. "I hope she _did_ get an answer at least. A feeling untold is worst than a feeling rejected."

It was the same thing Naminé said, or, at least what she was going to say. But now that I think of it, I never was able to tell Sakura my feelings towards her. I may have showed affection, but I never told that, I was deeply in love with her. But now I couldn't. Just like Funata and her little sister, it was too late.

"I'm going to get a couple hours." said Funata. "Can you hold up that long?" I nodded.

An hour past since Funata slept. The only thing there was for me to do was sit and watch as the storm that had subsided for the past few months suddenly unloaded on us. It seriously seemed as if it never was going to end. Then, even though I knew I shouldn't, I wondered how Sakura would be fairing in the rain.

A few minutes past and I quickly grew bored. I couldn't sleep because I had to keep watch—not that it mattered because I couldn't sleep even if I tried—and there was nothing to amuse myself with. I stared off deeper into the cave and noticed that . . . that I actually _stared_ deeper into the cave. There was more than just the area we bedded in.

Like the stupidity of man himself, curiosity took over me and I was anxious to explore. I took a lit stick from the fire and started to wonder off.

It was about ten minutes before I suddenly realized that there was nothing significant about this overlapped hollowed out ground. It was like any other cave: the deeper I went the damper and cold it got, not even the fire I felt warmed me.

Suddenly, a pain struck me in my back right shoulder. I fell to the ground and caught my breath, but it only continued down my arm. The pain was bearable to an extent, but it felt like something was crawling under my skin, trying to split its way out. I wanted to cry, wanted to scream, but I managed to hold it in for the next two minutes before the pain settled, leaving me panting my hardest and wondering what the hell just happened to me.

After a moment of recollection and rest, I picked up the still-burning stick of fire and got to my feet. Just as fast as my eyes followed my body, Madness appeared right in front of me with another grin on his face. I jumped back, astonished at his appearance.

"What do you want?" I murmured.

"It's beginning!" he said quietly.

"I thought I told you to go away."

"Silly fool, don't you understand that for as long as _you_ live, _I_ will never go away. And the only reason that you see me is because _you've_ gone _mad_!"

I found my words, and then said, "Shut up!" I wanted to say something more but couldn't quite find the exact words I wanted.

"Oh, where's poor Sanity-chan? Is she not here to balance me out?"

"I said _shut up_."

"Or did she just simply run away because she couldn't stand the likes of you? The insanity you hold, was it too much for the poor bitch?"

"_Go away!_" It was probably near the stupidest thing I've ever done, but it was for the better. I stuck the fire end of the stick into my shoulder and waited as it burned ferociously. I screamed as it pained and shortly after, I patted out the fire that began on my shirt.

Madness was gone, but it took a short painful sacrifice. I could feel my shoulder still burning and the smell of burnt skin forced me to cough. I gathered my will power and stood forcefully.

"They're coming." I heard Madness's voice echo in the air above me.

My eyes widened and my heart pounded. Was he talking about . . . _them?_ I bolted my way back to Funata.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

"Funata!" I shook her awake then kicked out the fire; and as hard as it may have been for me to accept Madness in any way, he was right. Outside where the rain created a dropping waterfall of rain near the caves entrance, three human-shaped shadows walked from left to right as if they didn't notice the cave.

Funata readied her gun and cocked it. I drew out Ketsuui and held it close to my side. There was literally no place to hide, so the two of us back pedaled deeper into the cave, trailing alongside the walls for concealment.

"Any ideas?" I asked quietly.

"Well, shooting them is always one. But then again we don't know how many more are out there. And I don't think you'll be able to take three on by yourself." As she said that, Funata drew her flashlight and held it under her gun. "Maybe we can scare'em away with light?"

"I prefer we travel deeper into the cave." I proposed. It was still pouring out. If I was going to run away, then I'd rather be dry.

"But for all we know it could lead to a dead end."

"And for all we know it could lead us into safety."

Slowly I started back and slowly Funata followed. Soon enough our slow pace turned into a full out sprint. We covered from our fireplace to the place I fell crying in front of Madness in only a couple minutes. And then deeper as we went, the darker things only got. Funata clicked her flashlight on, but that barely helped.

It came to a point where we actually had to stop and slow down because we could barely see where we were going. It was then when I heard rumbling noises—like shifting rocks and the light from Funata's flashlight had vanished. I reached out to Funata but couldn't feel her. I called out her name but she didn't reply. Now my heart started to race.

"Fun—" the ground beneath me collapsed again, and this time I had no one to pull me up. I was forced to fall and let gravity push me down to a place so dark and unknown to my eyes. The last thing I can properly describe was being smashed against a solid that quickly became liquid and the feeling washing around my body like a cold almost frozen bath thrashing. Soon enough I was forced to hold my breath and let whatever was carrying my helpless body straight out into another cold and windy drop.

This night just keeps getting worst and worst.

* * *

**Oh heh and what's the hold up for "Where the Ocean meets the Sky"? Well...  
busy moving BACK to America, I was given the task of writing chapter 2...  
So yeah, sorry about those who were waiting for that.  
As you know already I've been busy and such and writing two chapters for two different stories is hard -__-  
But I'm almost done with it and it'll be up by tomorrow.**


	13. Chiba

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** This chapter is actually shorter than a lot of my other chapters, but I hope you enjoy.

**Review Reply:** Thanks for your reviews and feedbacks. **Crazy and Proud **and **Enigma infinite**. And sorry if my writing has been on and off throughout the chapters lately. When I made this story, I only came prepared with a beginning and an ending with several POI in the middle (yeah I know, bad me). So while trying to avoid unnecessary stories and characters, I guess I actually accidentally gave my made up characters a connection and somewhat of an important role. Before last chapter I had no idea that I was going to make Naminé the younger sister of Funata or even bring up Anaba at all. I was actually hoping that Naminé would be a character of Syaoran's past and that I wouldn't have to mention Anaba. But now it seems like I have to . . . somehow include them in as the story progresses because they _now_ play a semi-major part in the characters lives. This may be a reason why it seems like I'm moving a bit faster than expected. I want to build a character, but not too much, and at the same time I really want to continue the journey a bit. You know Syaoran and you know I'm still building Sakura, but as for Funata, I am purposely limiting her identity given the situations in this story.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence  
**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Thirteen…  
**Chiba

* * *

For the second time in probably less than a day, I woke up not knowing where the hell I was. But this time, instead of being warm, I was cold and extremely wet.

"Wake up . . . wake up!"

When my eyes finally focused, I quickly moved out of reflex, kicking and thrashing until I was up to my feet. I panted heavily and took a quick stir at my surroundings. I wasn't in any cave anymore. But instead, I seemed to be back in the forest. But this time the rain storm subsided and the sun was out and as bright as any other day I could remember. Funny how one dull horrible day can turn beautiful all of a sudden.

Funata clutched her nose with her two hands and gave me a baleful glare. "What?" I asked. When she uncovered her nose, a small drop of blood fell. "Sorry."

After a moment to process what had just happened, we concluded it with a fall. Back in the cave we fell into a deeper cavern and straight into a moving stream. Then carried out down a waterfall that stood only twenty yards from our current position. I don't know how we managed to survive the hundred foot fall from a waterfall. At least we were away from the 'freaks . . . for now.

"Now what?" I asked, sounding almost malevolent. "Chiba City is probably still hours and hours away and worst, we're completely lost now!"

Funata seemed to ignore me. Instead of listening to me rant, she gave hard looks around our environment, around the dead forest. I couldn't tell what she was trying to find. I guess I didn't seem to care because I found myself sitting on top a boulder staring up at the sky—things just didn't seem to go the way I wanted. I started to get annoyed, irritated beyond all belief.

She still continued searching around for some reason—literally. After another few minutes, a smile crossed her face and she called out to me. "Syaoran-kun!" The cheerfulness in her voice caught my attention. Could there really be something to smile about? "Look!"

I came up beside her and looked at to where she pointed. "And?" All she did was point out where we fell from. I knew that already.

"There's the waterfall. And there's the entrance to the cave." I couldn't see the actual entrance, but I was able to imagine it—I'm sure that's what Funata wanted me to do anyways. "We were traveling on a trail just to the left of the cave. If we would've kept going along that trail, it would've led us around to the level just above us."

Glowering, I tried to summarize what she was trying to tell me. "So you're saying that we happen to still be going the right way. We're just about a hundred feet lower."

"I guess . . . you can put it that way—the point is, we can still get to Chiba City easily. I have no idea what time it is or how many days it's been since we left Tomoeda, but we do have the sun right now and we should use it before it gets dark . . . again."

The thought of our sunlight being limited after every day seemed to just piss me off. We can only travel so much on foot and when we only get a few hours to play with, it can get really disturbing. Now I don't even want to imagine how much light we'd get during the winter. Maybe at best, an hour? Hopefully winter never comes. I never thought I'd be saying this, but global warming, please hurry up!

So it was settled. Without arguing, we began on foot once again through the dead ungreen forest. Because it rained, the air was thick to breath and the ground beneath us sunk after every step we took. Once I actually had to stop to pull my foot out of a thick muck. There was no grass on the ground so of course we were forced to walk upon mud the entire time. As if things just couldn't come out better, Funata had to start a conversation I wanted to avoid—part because I wasn't in a mood for one and part because it involved history . . . _my_ history, and so far, I never enjoyed looking back.

"So was it you?" she said avoiding a low hanging branch.

I avoided the exact same bench, took a breath from the thick air and said with a frail voice, "Yea." I knew she was talking about Naminé.

"So then why'd you say you didn't know her that well?"

A fallen log blocked our path. Funata dipped around and through its small branches, but I chose to jump over it. I fell deep into the muck when I landed, but pulled myself up eventually just as Funata met me on the other side. "Because I didn't."

We continued walking.

"But she said that she's known you for almost a year. The two of you ate lunch almost all the time, shared bento and all that."

It took me a while to answer, still resenting the start of this conversation. "That was it," I snapped. "She was just a school mate I enjoyed hanging around with, nothing big." I started to sound angry. I didn't mean to, but the way things have been going, I just couldn't help it.

"You don't seem to be happy talking about her." said Funata sensing my anger.

My pack got caught by a nearby branch. It was like trying to untie a knot—something I'm not good at—I had trouble trying to get free. After fuddling with it, I finally decided to just snap the branch off. Finally I was free.

"It's not her, believe me. I just hate talking about anything that involves me in the past."

"And why's that?" she halted and placed her hands on her hips. I could tell she was a bit tired due to her panting. I have to admit, even though it's only been maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, the conditions we were in were horrible and I was utterly tired already.

"Just things I'd rather not remember. People I'd rather forget. Does there have to be a reason?"

Funata shrugged. "But it's kind of weird. This whole time I've been traveling around with the boy my little sister really liked."

Our short rest ended and we were walking once again. "Okay," I started, getting irritated that the subject was on me. "Let's talk about you a bit since we're on with getting to know unnecessary things about each other."

She didn't seem to have any problems with that. In fact, she seemed to be happy. "Okay, well I joined the Navy about a year ago. Came back from basic training just in time to see everyone blow each other up behind my back. I married during high school but was forced to kill my husband about four months ago." She said it like everything she named off was just a mere joke in life.

"Oh? And yet you say _I_ can't get married?"

Funata forced a small laugh. "You got me there," every word she said was panted out. "but still, Sakura-chan's a _bit_ too young. I mean, she isn't even a first year yet."

"Eventually it's not going to matter."

"If this world doesn't magically blossom up again, oh yeah, definitely."

Suddenly our conversation came to an abrupt end. Nothing else was said. The only sound there was were the sounds of water and ground mixed in as the weight of two humans collided with it, and eventually a broken branch here and there.

For the second time, my foot got stuck deep. This time though it took both Funata and I to pull me out. I almost lost my shoe in the muck but was lucky enough to dig it out. If I would've lost my shoe, it probably would've been _the_ worst day of my life. What else could be worse than everything that's already happened? I've had things.

An alarmed call from Funata rapidly caught my attention. "Syaoran-kun!"

As hard as it was, I made my way quickly to where Funata halted. She pointed towards a branch where a small white piece of clothing, stained with blood, hung. Immediately I knew that it was a part of Sakura. Then the thought of blood and her together scared me.

"She made the fall it looks like, but it looks like she might be hurt." Funata theorized. "Let's hope it was the _fall_ that made her bled."

My body was now full of adrenaline. "Sakura!" I did my best to run forward as I yelled. "Sakura, can you hear me?" I was going to yell again but felt Funata pull me from behind.

"Idiot, what do you think you're doing? For all we know these 'freaks could be hiding under a tree."

"Then what makes a difference if we talk or yell?" I waited for a reply. She gave none. "Sakura!"

After a few more yells, I gave up. If I was able to get to her at all, I'm sure Sakura would've replied. But she didn't. Now I was more worried for her than ever. She was bleeding, bleeding somewhere out in this god forsaken forest. I don't even know if her wound is big or not. I don't even know if she's even still alive!

"We have to find her!"

Funata widened her eyes and crossed her arms, an expression I didn't expect from her. "And how do you propose we do that? Lose our way in this dead jungle in hopes of finding her? Who knows where she might be!"

"But we have to try—"

"Do you have any idea what you're asking for, Syaoran-kun?" She gripped me by the shoulders. "Listen to me; I'm sure Sakura-chan is smart. If she survived and is still alive now, don't you think she'd be smart enough to make her way to Chiba City? She knows the general direction."

"And what if she doesn't? What if she's looking for us? What if she's—"

"Then it's _too late!_" I pushed away and fell to the ground. The words that came out of Funata's mouth made me furious. "Like us, she won't survive in this place for long. She's defenseless!"

I cringed my teeth and fisted. I wanted to lunge and give Funata a fist to the cheek, but I know better than to just do that. "For all we know, she could still be somewhere hurt in this place!"

It didn't take long for Funata to come up with something to say. "And for all we know, she could be in Chiba City, waiting for us!"

"And what if you're wrong?"

"I'm not!"

"How can you be sure?"

Funata turned away. It would have seemed like this argument was my victory, but she turned it all against me. "I may not know the two of you as well as you know each other, but unlike _you_, I believe Sakura's somewhere safe." she then turned back to me and continued, "You can stay here and search, but mark my words, it'll be me and Sakura heading into the mountains without you then."

Agony and hate whelmed over me. Sakura and her off to the mountains without me? I know Sakura, she would never go anywhere without me . . . would she? I had two choices now based upon what I was hearing: I would stay in this hellhole looking for Sakura while Funata left to Chiba City; or I would follow Funata and prayed to the gods that Sakura is already in Chiba City—or at least _going_ there. Were my odds of finding Sakura here better than there? I turned down to my feet in defeat. "Fine."

We set foot once again. This time we took no rests at all—I'm not even sure if we stopped for even a second. For sure a couple hours past; the heat started to pour sweat down the back of my shirt, the stench that I smelled couldn't get any worst. For some reason, the sun was still out—but just barely. Maybe we had another couple hours at most.

My legs started to feel numb beyond belief. I couldn't feel them as much, but I was extremely surprised to know that I was still able to move. It was like my legs had their own hearts and operated even without my command.

The walk was quiet all the way. But as we started walking up a small slope, Funata said without turning her head, "I'm sorry—about what I said."

I didn't answer.

"After all that's happened, I promised myself that I wouldn't think negative ever again. That's why we're going to the Oku Shirane. I have no idea if my assumptions are correct, but I'm not going to just think negative about it."

I still didn't answer. I'm not sure if I wanted to answer, or if I just didn't have anything to say.

After a couple miles of going uphill, the slope finally leveled. Past a few trees and a sudden light hit our faces. We were now standing on top of a hill. Down the hill of the opposite side that we came from was a trail leading down to wreckage about three miles ahead. It was like a wasteland; almost nothing but dirt and even more dirt. No buildings—unless you want to count those that didn't even look like buildings—and trees were nothing of existence. In fact, I couldn't even see trees off to the far distance.

"Chiba City." said Funata softly.

I winced and turned to her and back. "No . . . you're kidding me." It didn't even look like what I could ever imagine Chiba City being even _without_ all of its manmade landmarks. It just wasn't . . . Chiba City.

"My guess was right. Being the big city it is, Chiba was a sure target for a nuclear bomb."

"So you're saying that this is supposed to be Chiba City—" I wanted to add more, but was speechless.

"From the looks of it, it was a small nuclear bomb—"

"It doesn't matter if it was small; a nuclear bomb is a nuclear bomb!"

But it was true. Finally, we made it.

With nothing left to say due to our speachlessness, I took a step toward the dead city—like many others that are probably like this. I managed maybe ten yards before I heard clicks from all over and just as fast as I was able to register the noise, three men in gasmasks holding automatic firearms crossed my path. I heard Funata cry my name and quickly turned around, but only to see four other men with gasmasks circling her with their own automatics. _People? These are people!_

They pointed their guns at us and pushed us closer. Funata was about to reach for her pistol, but stopped as one of the gunmen yelled out to her, warning her that he'd kill us. Funata withdrew with a grunt.

"_Sir,_" said one of the men in front of me, his voice echoed from behind his mask, "_we have two more people coming from the west side of the forest._"

_More people_? I looked at Funata, and instantly, I knew she thought the same as me.

Sakura!

**

* * *

**

**Hopefully this chapter is better than my last even though it's shorter. Heh  
Please review though.  
I'm currently working on this next chapter so stay in touch!**


	14. Yukito

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n: **Hey can you believe it? Yeah, I've finally updated sad to say. I didn't lose interest in my story, I actually was studying abroad in Germany and Japan, and I've just returned about a month ago. This chapter IS and WILL BE a bit wacky. Not the type of writing you've been seeing from this story. But I need this chapter to . . . I guess you can say, "get back into the groove" or something like that. It's been such a long time since I've FF'ed and so this chapter probably won't get the story anywhere. It's my shortest chapter of the story and like I said, I'm trying to get into the groove of things again so I apologize for this chapter.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14  
**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Fourteen…  
**Yukito

My hands weren't cuffed, but who needs them when you have more than ten men with guns bordering you? Words were enough for me to keep my hands behind my back. Smartly so, Funata did the same. Ever since our capture, we were guided deep into what I still couldn't believe was Chiba City. It was more like a wasteland.

"Keep moving." said one of the men. I was walking as fast as I could already.

As we wandered deeper into the Chiba Wasteland, tents and small structural buildings started to become clearer. Bordering what seemed like a camp, more people with firearms. Once we approached them, one of the men on our side nodded the one of the men keeping guard and walked us through. We then entered through a small hatch opening on the ground.

It was too dark for me to see what happened next, but after a few shoving and pushing from behind, a few lights from above turned on and we suddenly were in an enclosed area. I felt my guts rush up towards my stomach and that was then when I realized that we were in an elevator.

For the first few minutes, it was quiet. I was actually quite surprised to see how far down we've gone. Usually in a normal building, it'd only take a few seconds to travel ten or so stories. But having to take several minutes, we must've been going deep underground. Of course, how stupid was I? Deep enough to prevent radiation penetration. It was smart, but how smart was it? I guess it didn't matter since it _was_ the best thing to do.

When the doors open, a warm and foul burst of wind wept inside the elevator doors. I had to actually cover my nose. After a moment, we began walking forward and eventually came up to a giant steel door. Giant may not have been the best word, but enormous might. The door was easily thirty feel high and fifteen feet wide.

"Open it up." One of the men spoke into his wrist. The doors did just that. With shaking from beneath, I was afraid that the floor would collapse on me again, the doors opened slowly and a burst of light came out at us. I closed my eyes.

When I reopened them, I saw a room full of something I couldn't believe—life. Men playing chess on a small stool to my left, and to my right were women cooking and serving food. I rubbed my eyes, not believing what I was seeing. I was half hoping that this was a dream, but wouldn't that just be asinine?

It was real, it all was real. The laughter I heard, the smiles I saw. It was like they didn't care so much about what was going on above ground. It was amazing. I could see from the looks of Funata's eyes that she was just as shocked as I was, if not more. All her hard word on searching for others has payed off. There had to be hundreds of people inside a room about the size of a hanger.

"Welcome to New Chiba." The man said. "But before you can settle in, you have to see the professor."

"Huh?" I looked around the room. There weren't as many doors. But maybe that was because I still stood at the entrance trying to look beyond. To the side of the room was a catwalk, in which we were lead up and around to the complete opposite side of the room. It was quite a walk, and from here I could see a few other doors on the bottom level and several more on the catwalk level.

We came up to a door and were pushed in, Funata and I. Then the doors shut behind us.

"Now what?" I asked. Not sure if I was just talking to myself or to Funata.

The room we were in was more like a lab. It had everything there was for a lab to have. From the chemical cups boiling over fire to large body size containers to the side of the room.

"I guess we have to wait." said Funata. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Looking around." I said. I did just that. I took close looks at the boiling chemicals. There were all sorts of colors from pink to green to blue to orange. For some odd reason, they caught my attention. But then to the side, there was one capsule that had a cloak on top, covering it from viewing the inside. I guess you can say I found it kind of suspicious, and the human idiot feeling, curiosity, kicked in.

"Don't touch that." Funata warned.

"I just want to see what's inside." I was just about to uncloak the capsule, but a hang smacked my hand away, which, by the way, startled me quite a bit.

"You should listen to her, it could save your life."

A man with white hair, almost as white as snow, walked passed me and towards a desk area. He sat down on his chair and gestured us over. Funata and I looked at each other for a second, then Funata made her way first.

It was weird, and maybe I was just imagining it, but I heard some sort of soft grunting from behind the cloak as if something was behind it. But I would guess that it was just me. I was hungry and tired and since I've been through a lot, maybe it was my own head playing with me.

But just as I took a step towards the man with white hair, I heard the grunt again, and this time, pang struck my stomach. The feeling was the same back in the cave, but this time it went away fast, but still left me uneasy on my feet.

"Are you okay, Syaoran-kun?" wondered Funata. I nodded and followed her to the man with white hair, ignoring the grunt. With my stomach hurting the way it did, maybe it was just extreme hunger.

"So," the man said. "you two are the new one's here." Funata and I stared at him for a moment. "Oh, my name is Yukito. I am—or—was a scientist for Chiba's University.

"Nice to meet you." said Funata. "Would you mind explaining what on Earth this place is? Let's not rush ourselves here. I'm not quite exactly liking this warm welcome."

Yukito stared at me of all things for quite some time. Maybe he was upset that I tried pulling off that cloak? What did he have to hide, if anything? Or did he just maybe found something else in me that—or maybe he was stared past me at something else. I started to get even more uneasy. Seeing everything that was outside of this room was exhilarating, but now it wondered if this was something else that I should be afraid of.

Finally, he turned to Funata and said, "Of course. But first may I speak to you alone?"

Funata's eyes flashed. "Alone? For what reason?"

"Adult discussion, please?"

Funata shook her head. "He's with me—"

"That's fine, Funata." I said, interrupting her. I had something else on my mind. "If so, then take me to Sakura, please."

Yukito stared with a blank face. "Sakura? Oh, the little girl who just got here. She's in the care center."

"Great, and that is . . ."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

The directions were vague. But I was guided for the most part by a soldier-like man. For all I know he could've been just any average Joe with a gun, but it was safe to not mention it. Like Funata said earlier, I wasn't quite enjoying this warm welcome as well. I guess you could say the warm welcome was a bit too warm. It was something I still couldn't believe, but I guess I didn't have a choice. Even if this were a dream, I wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, so might as well adapt to it.

Adapting . . . something that can be quite hard. Trying to adapt yourself to being alone in the world is one thing. But when you get so used to it, trying to adapt back to seeing hundreds of people is completely different.

I could trust that this _place _I'm in is safe. With the defenses on the outside, there's no way anything could get passed them . . . much less come through the huge gigantic doors. But even with all of this insurance of safety, I, for some reason just didn't feel good. Maybe I was just going crazy? I really hoped not.

To get my mind off of these negative thoughts, I started up a conversation with someone I didn't even know.

"So how long has this place been up?" I asked my guide.

He looked at me like I was talking to someone else. I might as well be talking to myself though. "A few days before _that_ day." He said. "It didn't start out with this many people, but Yukito-sama and a handful of the Chiba City police force banned together and gathered others as time went on."

"Amazing. But how did so many people survive? This city is—or was—a big place. Certainly it was struck hard."

The guide nodded. "True. I'm not quite sure on the details myself, but I'd guess that most of these people were like you, someone who traveled in hopes of finding others and ended up here."

"You weren't here since the beginning?" I asked.

"I came a couple months ago only. Yukito-sama and the others taught me how to use a gun, and I was this way ever since. We're here."

I actually was starting to enjoy the talk. But as we entered through a door, my thoughts suddenly changed. Inside was nearly as identical as an actually hospital room, only much bigger. Instead of only being able to treat one or two people, this room was able to hold at least forty. Most of the bed that were lined up against the wall were taken up and children played with small plastic toys in the center of the room.

But after scanning the room, I couldn't find Sakura. I began to feel frantic and hopeless. Everything I had just vanished; crushed and shattered before my eyes. I still remembered the last time I saw her, holding her hands in the darkness and watched as she fell. Remembering that scene brought me to a heartache and forced me to clutch my chest.

"She's not here." I said, deep sorrow within my voice.

"She's probably in the next room. We use it for the badly injured." said the guide.

My head rose. So Sakura was here? But if she was, then her wounds must've been bad. I tried to give myself some positive thoughts, telling me that she could be dead and that that was worst then being horribly injured. But for some reason, it didn't help me as much as I had hoped.

I was lead to another room across the room. It was then when I realized how big this place was. Being underground, it had to be built months, or even years, before NHE day. Almost like . . . whoever built this saw it coming.

When we entered the room, there were a few nurses tending to patients. This room wasn't quite as big as the other, but enough to hold about fifteen people. There were only seven people in the room, a few of them sleeping, and one of them was Sakura.

Quickly I ran to her bedside and cupped her hand in mine. Her skin was soft, softer than I could remember . . . either that or I had just completely forgotten how they felt like. In fact, I almost couldn't picture her in my head until now, because up until now, whenever I thought about her, I thought about darkness.

She had a sling around her left arm and a couple bandages on her left cheek. Other than that, her breathing seemed to be fine and she was alive.

"Nurse." said the guide. "What's the girl's status?"

A nurse with long blonde hair made her way over with a clipboard and pen. "Her body is full of bruises, nothing too big though; she has a couple large cuts on her face, probably will leave a scar; and her left shoulder was dislocated, but we managed to pop it back in. The poor thing's been through a lot, she's been sleeping ever since she got here. Wouldn't eat or drink. Other than that, she should recover eventually. With the limited supply we have, we've done our best. But I must say, it's amazing to have heard that she made it all the way here all by herself with her injuries."

"Thank you." The guide said. "I'm sorry you had to see her the way she is."

"That's fine. Thank you . . ." Seeing her was better than not seeing her.

"Tadahito Takashi."

"Thank you, Takashi-san."

"If you need me, just find me. The other officers and soldiers here don't really care much about social living anymore. They've all been taught to just shoot and kill, so don't bother going to anyone else unless you really want to get killed."

I smiled at his precautionary warning, then he left.

I turned my attention back to Sakura and reflected on what the nurse had said. She made it all the way here by herself? With bruises and a dislocated shoulder at the worst. It was amazing. _She_ was amazing. Funata was right, Sakura _was_ strong. I ran my fingers down her cheeks, avoiding her bandages. Her cheeks were still soft, even after so much. I really wondered though, what did this to her? Was it the fall, or was it _them_?

Sakura began to move. I didn't know why, but my heart began racing. "Sakura!" Slowly, her eyes began to open, and the green pearls that I longed to see finally flashed. "You're awake, thank god!"

It took a moment, but she finally locked eyes with me. At first, it seemed as if she couldn't see because she gave no reaction. But then a slight smile crossed her face and suddenly her eyes began to tear up.

"Is that really you?" she managed to say. "S-Syao—" she cringed and coiled herself up. "It hurts."

"Try not to move too much." I said. "You've taken quite a beating." For a moment I thought about maybe giving her a hug. Maybe she'd want that, but then again in the state she was in I didn't really want to hurt her. All I could do was smile. I thought I was going to cry, but I managed to hold back the tears.

"This isn't a dream is it?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, it's not." I wasn't sure if that was the right answer or not. I'm sure you know what I mean by that. If this was a dream, then what part of it would be reality? Philosophy was something I never liked talking about. "This is—" Before I could finish, my ribs panged. The pain was just as bad as the moment I fell in the lab and in the cave, if not worst. It was like something was crawling in my stomach and it wanted to get out.

The next thing I could remember myself doing was clutching my stomached with both my arms and screaming in pain. Sakura was weak to get up but still called my name in horror, though her voice was nothing but echoes to my ears. My vision blurred and nurses gathered around me. They all were doing something, but as my vision kept blurring, it was hard for me to make things out.

The last thing I heard was the cry of Sakura before I blacked out.

* * *

**Yeah... like I said, not the best I've done for this story.**  
**But, that was the bad news. The good news is that I'll be having a constant update finally.**  
**Every Friday at 6PM Central.**  
**Please stay tuned, especially all you fans who've been patiently waiting!**


	15. Paths

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** Here's the chapter, sorry for not updating on Friday like I said I would. Admittingly I _did_ forget (dumb me), and on Saturday I didn't have internet around me. But, I did update today so here you go! And enjoy your first week of the NFL season (for you football fans).

I think I've gotten back into my mood now. As I start "coming down the mountain" I'd like to mention, again, that this is not an "I Am Legend" story. I actually have my own little . . . ohhh I guess you can say _"twist"_ for this story. I'll give you a hint: Philosophy and Psychology. That's all my story is. There is no magic or "clow cards" involved in this story, it is flat out based on those two words. Now please enjoy! Update for next chapter will be next Friday at 6PM Central (if not sooner).

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horrorf  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Fifteen…  
**Paths

It seemed to be a habit now. Just suddenly blacking out after pain and then finding myself awake again not knowing where I was. If I counted right, this was the third time within forty-eight hours. I don't know about you, but I don't think that's a good thing.

The next time I woke I was in a normal bed; not a hospital bed like Sakura was in, but a normal plush full size bed. But it wasn't just me, Sakura slept comfortably by my side as well, her nose against my left shoulder and her thumb against her mouth as if she had the baby habits of sucking it, sling in the other arm.

Pushing myself into an upright position, I noticed the room we were in was dark. The only thing keeping things visible were candle lights illuminating every corner of the room. Other than that, us and the bed, the room was completely empty with only one door.

Sakura shoveled in her position and soon her eyes opened. Our gazes met and I knew she thought the same as me: we both still couldn't believe we were looking at each other once again. With a smile, she sat up to lie back against me, resting her head on my chest. I combed her hair with my hand as we watched the empty room around us. The feeling of her bandage on her cheek made my chest start to itch, of all things, but I ignored it.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Almost a day I'd guess." replied Sakura. That's right, she was probably asleep too so she probably didn't even know.

I rested my chin on the top of her head and asked, "How'd you do it?"

It took a while, but she finally answered with, "It takes more than those freaks to stop me! You underestimate your fiancé, Syaoran."

For once, I laughed. "No, I meant how'd you get here?"

"Don't you remember? I used to live in Chiba before I moved to Tomoeda."

Ah, that was right. How could I forget such a simple thing? Now I felt like I was on the low end. I've been with Sakura for nearly seven months but even now I couldn't remember where she even used to live, and I was in it . . . or what's left of it that is.

As the room got quiet again, I realized once again that I was actually in a place full of _people_, full of _human_ beings. I still wasn't used to it. Knowing this it made me think back to the prayer that I said every single night for six months. _If someone was out there, tell me_. Now, I should feel accomplished, but for some reason, I didn't . . . I just didn't. Maybe it was because of what Funata and I talked about the night we met her. About how we really aren't immune and that eventually, we'll turn into a freak, into one of _them_. Now, I know that I shouldn't be thinking negatively, but what was the point in continuing on then, assuming that we really can't be immune? But then again, there _is_ always a chance, and for as long as I was alive and well, I'm keeping those chances next to me.

But . . . what about everyone else in this underground facility? What if one of _them_ turns into a freak? What will everyone think about that? Or do they already know? For some reason I highly doubt it.

As the door croaked open, interrupting my usual thoughts, Funata entered in and close the door behind her. She took my attention with her new changed attire. Now she was in a full camouflage pants and jacket, almost as if she was back in the military again. She found a stool that I didn't even see and sat beside the bed.

"Don't you two look cute." she said almost mockingly.

I bobbed my head and replied with, "And so do you."

"Soldiers aren't cute."

"Well I'm sorry that was insulting."

Funata laughed. "Wasn't I right, Syaoran-kun? She's strong." I embraced Sakura a little tighter and nodded. "Well, I just wanted to tell you guys that I'll be leaving tomorrow night."

The news struck Sakura and me hard. This was something we didn't expect, nor wanted to hear. For one, it was sudden, and for two, it was also confusing and didn't make sense at all. Leave? For what reason?

"But why?" I asked. "Wasn't our goal to find a safe deep place where radiation couldn't pene—" I stopped. There was another reason why Funata wanted to go to the mountains and it wasn't because she wanted to find someplace safe. I also remembered her mentioning that she used to live up there. "You want to see if your parents are still alive." That was the only thing I could come up with, and as Funata nodded, it was true.

"That's why I came to Tomoeda in the first place. I wanted to see if my little sister was safe . . . but I haven't seen her so . . . and this is a safe place and there's no need for the two of you to come along."

"Safe?" I retorted. "Who knows how many of those people out there could be radiated already. Not all of them were here before everything started."

"Yukito said that he and most of his soldiers, along with a handful of Chiba citizens, were here before the incident and understand everything just as well as we do. He says he has everything under control, and as a former soldier, I trust him."

"I never said I didn't trust the man, I'm just saying _what if_?"

"Syaoran-kun, this whole world is a big _what if_ now. Eventually you should take some chances . . . like me. I know the odds of my family being alive are slim, but I just have to check. I don't want to be putting your lives in danger like I've been doing, so I want you guys to stay here. It's very isolated and it's the safest thing you'll _ever_ be in. You have soldiers everywhere, most who are actually recon-trained."

Again the room fell silent. I could see that Sakura wanted to say something, but she had nothing to say, probably not knowing which side to stick up for. I was about to say something else, but Funata got up and started to make her way to the door.

"If you want Sakura-chan to be safe," she started. "then I'd suggest staying because these soldiers can protect her a lot more than me. I'll give you some time to think." Then she left.

As she left, Sakura separated and repositioned until she was facing me. I knew she was thinking about the same thing as me. Our objective was to be safe. I was only sixteen and she was only fourteen. We couldn't do much. All I had was a small dagger I named Ketsuui. I didn't want to risk Sakura's life and I was sure Sakura didn't want to risk mine. What Funata thought and offered was the smartest thing. But why couldn't I recognize that? Was I too used to being in a small pack that I suddenly just couldn't stand being with a group so large? Everything was fine when Sakura and I were living by ourselves. We didn't even know that _they_ existed. But I guess eventually we would have I guessed.

I asked for Sakura's thoughts.

"I—whatever you want, Syaoran, I'll be with you." the typical answer I expected. It actually kind of got me upset, half pissed.

"No, Sakura, I want to hear what _you_ want."

"But . . . that _is_ what I want."

I glowered. "Fine, then tell me. What would you do if you were me?"

That, I guessed, was the right question. This time I stumped her. It took Sakura almost a whole five minutes of silence before she was ready to answer. "I'd do what's best for the both of us and live happily . . . ever . . . after." Sakura inched closer to me, and when our noses met, she gave me a short peck on the lips.

Great, that helped me. If you didn't know, that was sarcasm. She really didn't give me much of a choice. But I guess there wasn't much of a choice to begin with.

"I guess . . ."

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

The room was ours. Like almost all of the dorm-like rooms in this underground _base_, it had nothing but a bed and a bathroom down the hallway. The hallways were dark and poorly lit with nothing but candles on each side of the way after and before every door. Two soldiers roamed each hallway, but really, they just ended up talking like the rest of us, friends chatting away about things that _were _of this world like who would've won this and who would've won that in sports.

The bathroom was small. Of course, what need was there for it to be large? Only one stall and a sink with a mirror on top, but what more would you need? It had been only a bit more than a few days since I left Tomoeda, but it seemed more like an entire month. As I looked into the mirror, it was as if I'd forgotten what I looked like. The person who stared back at me in the mirror, that wasn't me . . . was it?

The face was muggy, full of dirt and small scratches. I threw Ketsuui down to the floor and splashed some cold water on me and washed my face with some soap. When I looked back into the man in the mirror, I saw another me in the background. Immediately I knew who that other _me_ was and I wasn't happy to see him again.

"What do you want?" I asked grimly.

Madness shrugged. "So I guess you've made it to someplace safe. How's Sanity-chan? Is she asleep?"

"You stay the hell away from her, do you hear me?"

"Oh you're a stupid boy. You know that's impossible! As long as I . . . am . . . _you_ . . . it's impossible!"

"You're not me. You lying piece of shit."

Madness laughed and mocked me. "My you got me stumped. Or maybe you really are just _mad_."

"What do you want?"

In the mirror, Madness slapped his forehead and slowly shook his head. "Whatever you want; I'm only here because you want me here."

Me? Want him here? "Bullshit." I yelled. "Get away from me!" I lowered and gabbed Ketsuui into my hands and pulled it out of its sheath and swung behind me towards Madness, but just as my luck had it, he was gone . . . again.

Frustrated as I was I fell to the ground and pushed against the wall. Why does he keep on coming back? What was he? Who was he? Madness? He's only here because I want him here? That was crap; it had to be a lie. I didn't want him here; I never wanted to see him in the first place. He's nothing but a bother, nothing but someone . . . or some_thing_ that I wanted out of my life. But why? He keeps on coming back . . . keeps on bothering me.

Someone knocked on the door from the other side. "Hey kid, you done in there?"

I got up, left the bathroom almost feeling ill and made my way back to my room. I entered and closed the door silently behind me. Sakura was already sleeping in the bed. I crawled up beside her and closed my eyes.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

That night I had a dream. A short and blurry dream; all I could remember was my hands being wet with blood. There was a body on the ground and my blade, Ketsuui, was also dropping with blood. That was all I remembered before I woke up the next morning.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

The next night Sakura and I met Funata at the giant gate in which we entered when we got here in the first place. Yukito was with us, his glasses and professor robe on.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, hoping maybe I could try one more time to stop her, but she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Syaoran-kun." she said. "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but it's something I want to do."

Sakura, almost in tears, ran over to her and gave her a hug.

Funny, I never really thought that someone I've only known for not even a week could be so close to me. She was really like a big sister to me and Sakura. I myself almost felt like crying. Funata was there to help us. She was the one who guided us. Without her, Sakura and I wouldn't even be in a place so full of protection and food. Who knows too, one day we would've have to go against those _freaks_ by ourselves if we hadn't met Funata.

"I wish you luck, Funata-san." said Yukito. "A foolish journey, but also a courageous."

After letting go of Sakura, Funata said, "I don't need your pity professor. All I want is for you to keep them safe for as long as you can."

"I will . . . at any means necessary." Yukito and Funata gave each other a long hard stare. It was actually quite discomforting because I felt like there was something shared between those two that wasn't shared with me and I got kind of upset. But I knew I was only thinking too hard.

"Thank you." I said interrupting their little staring contest. "For everything; who knows what would've happened if we hadn't met you."

Funata nodded and turned to leave through the open gates. Just as she stepped outside though, she stopped and turned back.

"I'm glad my sister was friends with you . . . I'm glad she ended up liking someone like you. You're a nice kid, Syaoran-kun."

I felt flattered and almost embarrassed to hear that . . . in a good way. All I did was nod and watched as the gates closed behind her as she continued out.

When the gates finally closed, I had to think a bit to myself. That was it. It was done. She was gone. Funata was gone, out of my life after just becoming a part of it. It was a scary thought. Somehow, even though I know I shouldn't, I felt less protective. I felt as if the people around me were not people I couldn't trust . . . even though everyone pretty much lived a happy life. It was a very scary thought. I didn't know how to act.

Just as I thought my emotions couldn't get any more negative, a soldier, Takashi, came up running towards us. As he stopped, he caught his breath and stood up straight.

"Yukito-sama, Ryuuga . . . Ryuuga is . . . dead." he said.

**B I O**_**—FREAK**_

Ryuuga was a soldier. They found him in his room with his throat slit and a knife by his side. The verdict of his death was that it was a suicide. But I couldn't see it that way. Was it really possible to slit your own throat? He had a gun, why didn't he just shoot himself if he wanted to commit suicide? Maybe he didn't want anyone to know? The door _was_ locked and Yukito said that because of that, the possibility of a murder was out. He also added that everyone was trusted and had no absolute reason to do any killing.

"Ryuuga-senpai was a good soldier." said Takashi during dinner the next day.

Lunch was held in the same large area in which we first entered, the _commons_. There were thirty long tables set and aligned at a corner and we managed to find an empty table where no one was around us for the most part.

"I don't get why he'd do such a thing then." I said, handing Sakura a piece of my bread. She had her own plate of food, but after hearing about such an incident, I lost my appetite. Sakura still had a sling on her arm, so I had to help her eat most of the time.

"Maybe he knew he was starting to turn into one of _them_." said Takashi. "He's that good of a guy to take his own life away."

"I suppose." I said.

After taking a bite out of an apple, Takashi turned to Sakura and said, "You're kind of quiet there little sweet."

Sakura paused with foot in her cheeks and looked him. Little sweets? That was something I hadn't heard of but I guess Sakura didn't care to take it in any way. She just continued to eat.

"She's probably still trying to get used to this place." I said in her defense.

"Yeah, probably. Everyone isn't comfortable the first week or so here. Not even me."

I nodded. "By the way, how does this place get food?" When I thought about it, no one seemed to ever be hungry. In fact, there was plenty of food to last several months.

"Well . . . as you probably have seen, all we eat are fruits. Every fruit has seeds that we can plant and grow. No sunlight, but with someone like Yukito-sama, we can grow food within days with biological sprays. Kind of like that human stem cell crap that you hear about except it's for fruits."

"And this stuff is okay to eat?"

"No one's had any problems yet."

I nodded again. "I suppose."

"The bread we've packed plenty of so don't worry about shortage of grain." The conversation suddenly got quiet. Maybe that was because I abruptly and unwillingly began to think about how Funata was doing. She said that this place was safest. Then right after she left, I hear that someone killed himself. Safe? Ha, yea right! Almost scary actually . . . how ironic was that huh? "I'm sure she's fine." said Takashi interrupting my thoughts.

"Huh?" was all I said.

"Funata-san, she's a soldier as well. She'll be able to fend for herself."

"Oh. Yeah, I know." I said. "I guess I'm just not used to being here either. Sakura and I've been through so much in only a matter of days with Funata that it feels so weird being without her all of a sudden."

"I know what you mean." said Takashi almost convincingly. "I came here with a younger brother. But a few months ago, he disappeared. Everyone said he ran away . . . but it just never made sense. Eventually I came to accept it because there's nowhere else could be. Why he ran away . . . I'll never figure that out."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's nothing. I'm on and over it now. But hey, eat up and get to bed. I have a post I have to get to now." Takashi finished his apple and left the table leaving Sakura and I with other people who joined.

I watched as Sakura continued to stuff fruits into her mouth almost with bad manners. With only one arm, she stuffed them pretty fast. I took my plate and scraped all of my food onto her plate. Sakura turned and gave me an odd look, food still stuffed in her mouth. She made a little _hmm, hmm, hmm_ sound almost as if to protest me dumping food onto her plate.

"Shut up," I said with a smile. "finish up, _little sweets_." I stabbed a strawberry with my fork and tried shoving it into Sakura's mouth. She pushed away with her good arm and turned.

"_Blah_, Syaoran! I can eat by myself!" she cried.

It was quite funny actually. But then as I stopped trying to force the strawberry into Sakura, I realized that she was free of all negative expressions. Especially since Funata had left only yesterday. I expected her to be at least a little bit gloomy. But she wasn't. But then I realized that that was who Sakura is. She was someone who was willing to adapt. She adapted with me, living with just the two of us, then with Funata and traveling, and now with thousands of people, and now with Funata gone. Just like that, and I hadn't even learned to accept the simplest things like . . . _them_. Everyone knows they're out there and yet they lived so happily. Every face I saw always had a smile; even Sakura's now that I was able to push a strawberry into her mouth. So when why couldn't I? Why was I still weak?

Adapt . . . that was the key. Maybe then I wouldn't be thinking so hard. Just accept things. That wasn't a bad thing to do . . . was it? Accept things.

**B I O**_**—FREAKS**_

That night I had another dream. But instead of such disgust, this dream was pleasant and bright. I was in a room that was all white, so white that I winced until I was used to the brightness. I was in a room that smelled of clean fresh water—if that made any sense. Across the room sitting on a large white bed was the same girl from my other dream I once had.

"It's you again." I said. The girl stood up. This time, instead of fear like last time, she seemed calm and almost relaxed. "Who are you?" I asked. As I took a closer look and focused into my fuzzy dream, I started to recognize the girl all of a sudden. Not just someone from another dream, but someone from . . . I couldn't believe my eyes. I don't know why I didn't realize it earlier. "Nami—"

"She's your wife!" someone from behind me said. I turned quickly and saw Madness with his evil smile. I took a step back and inched to the side as he walked passed me to the girl. He wrapped his arms around her and patted her on the head. "Poor girl . . . forgotten by your own husband . . . poor, poor, poor girl . . ."

"Syaoran-kun," said Naminé. "How could you do this to me?"


	16. Twilight

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n: **Because I updated late last week, I'd like to make it up by updating early this week. So please enjoy.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Sixteen…  
**Twilight

I was young, a little thirteen year old spoiled kid who hated his life. My closest friends were nothing more than a couple girls: my cousin, Meilin and another girl from school, Namine. Out of the two, I only enjoyed spending my day with one because . . . well the other was quite annoying, rude, and too outgoing for me—too outgoing for her age.

"Syaoran-kun, look at this!" Namine said. She pulled out a small plastic stick from a bottle and blew into it, through a circular hole, bubbles starting to come out. It caught my utmost attention, mainly because I've never seen such things before. A smile crossed my face and I started laughing.

"Amazing, Namine!" I said.

When she turned my way, an even bigger smile crossed her face and she gave the stick and bottle to me. "You try!" she said. I did, but failed. I tried again with her encouragement, and failed again. Even though I failed once more, I still managed to make her laugh. "Your funny, Syaoran-kun."

"I'm not good at this."

"Then I'll teach you." Her smile lifted my own. "I'll teach you until you get it."

"But what if I never get it?"

For a moment, she looked puzzled. But then eventually that smile crossed her face again and she said, "Then I'll be with you forever until you do!"

I didn't actually know how serious she was at the time, so I nodded without even thinking. "Really?" This was a happy moment for me. Though some would have found it awkward, this was a happy moment for me.

"Really," she replied. "Really, really, Syaoran-kun"

"Then, let's get married. That way we'll _always_ be together."

I didn't think I was serious when I said that, maybe because I probably _wasn't_ serious when I said that. But I learned my lesson now, and that was to not play with a girl's heart. You'd think, thirteen years old, just on the brink of becoming a first year in high school but yet can also be so stupid still. Stupid . . . as was I.

**B I O**_**—FREAK**_

"That was years ago, Namine." I said, trying to keep the room a friendly place for me.

"Why though?" Namine asked. "Why would you say that to me? You said you _wanted_ to get married! That day was the happiest day of my life."

"Namine! We were just _kids_ for crying out loud, nothing but stupid little kids!" My voice soared.

"Did you realize that _after_ you said it then? Is that why, after that year, you started to ignore me? Every day during school I've done nothing but wanting to be near you, and all those times I've been pushed away without even being given an answer on why."

I couldn't believe I was having this conversation. This was a dream, it _is_ a dream. But then why couldn't I wake up? Not only that, why did it seem so real? Unlike a dream where you could rarely make out the little things that happen, everything I saw was clear. If I really wanted to, I could've counted every single little spec within the room itself. But it doesn't explain anything.

What was going on? My friend, Namine, standing right in front of me and Madness standing right beside her. It seemed impossible that these two coexisted. Namine was dead, she was dead. She either got killed or turned into one of _them_. There was no way that I could possibly see her as elegant as she is now. Really, what was going on?

"Did I forget to tell you?" said Madness all of a sudden. He set an arm around Namine and smiled at me. "Syaoran-kun there is engaged with another girl . . . little Sanity-chan."

Namine's eyes widened. "Why is this happening?"

I couldn't agree more. I wanted nothing but out, out of this stupid dream. What happened between Namine and I was of the past, the _long_ past, the past that didn't even _exist_ anymore. Why was this happening to me?

"Isn't he a horrible kid?" said Madness. "How could you _ever_ have fallen for—"

"Oi, _shut up_ and get out of here!" I yelled. I took a step forward, almost threatening to tackle him.

Madness continued his sly smile. But now he backed off away from Namine and shrugged. "Fine, I'll leave you two alone to discuss things." With that said, he disappeared, leaving Namine half in tears.

I walked over to her, feelings almost miserable. Even though this _dream_ wasn't quite the blurry type, my memories were. I tried to remember the past, with Namine and I, but they didn't come clear. I tried to recall the first time we met and other events that happened after the day I said I wanted to marry her, but nothing came clear to me.

"Nam—"

"Syaoran-kun, I know life is hard now. I'm glad that you're doing well and are still alive. But please, just give me an answer . . . why?"

For a moment, I thought. I couldn't remember exactly what I had done to her, but I do know that I did sway away from her within the past couple years. Not only that, I also knew why.

"Because I lost feelings for you." I said. The truth was out. You'd think it was something easy to say, easy to take in, but for someone who was truly in love, it's a cold blow to the heart to hear someone say that. Someone saying what I just said is very depressing.

"And you couldn't just say that earlier instead of ignoring me and giving me an analogy during the dance?" I could see her shutter but still trying to keep her poise.

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"So letting me suffer thinking you've completely hated me for nearly two years was even better." she yelled.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? What do you want me to do now? Everything's changed. I can't prevent what's already happened, hell you're not even supposed to be alive, this is all just a dream and I'm starting to want to wake up!" The room got quiet and Namine stared at me as if the way I sounded off surprised her. I took a breather and calmed myself down. "Namine . . . I did have feelings for you, and you were someone special to me. But things changed and I got older and my feelings for you just unwillingly faded away. Please, understand me."

Namine shook her head. "I don't know what to understand. You were the one person who really understood me, who really seemed to care about me. Just to see my love run away like this . . . it's heartbreaking."

"I know . . . and I really truly am sorry, but I did care for you . . . and you're wrong on one thing." I said. "Your sister, Funata, cared a lot about you too. In fact, she came all the way to Tomoeda just to see if you were still here."

The name of her sister seemed to have made her jerk and caught her attention. "You're lying. I loved my sister but she was always too busy. Plus she'd never come searching for me. She knew I was gone. Knowing her, she was probably stationed elsewhere, too busy to even think about me."

"You're wrong again. She was the reason why I'm still alive. In fact, she's off to the mountains to see if your parents are still alive."

Namine fell silent.

"Listen, Namine. I didn't mean to hurt you. I have you to thank for bringing so much happiness into my life. You know I always hated it, but out of everything, you were the only person that I enjoyed being with. Out of Meilin, my family, my butler, and even _them_, _you_ were the one person I loved spending my time with the most whether I had feelings for you or not! You really were! I'm just . . . sorry things had to turn out this way."

Suddenly, I heard sniffles. Namine began to cover her eyes with her own palms and right before my eyes, she started crying. Quickly made my way to her and swung my arms around her, clutching her against my chest.

"And I'm not lying about Funata too. She really _is_ going back to your old home."

After Namine calmed, the two of us sat silently on the bed. "I guess this is it then." said Namine. "I just have to accept things as it is." The way she sounded made it seem she was almost unwillingly accepting things.

I didn't want to agree, so I didn't. But I also didn't want to disagree because you couldn't really disagree. Even for me, I had to just accept things as it came. Though I haven't really necessarily done it perfectly, it was still part of my forte.

"Well . . . I guess you should go back now." she said. "I'm sure you've noticed that this necessarily isn't a _dream_."

I blinked. "Then what is it?"

"Funny, you created it, so you should know."

In my life I've been through a lot of things that confused me. But this one was the winner. I created this _dream_ like place? Okay, maybe this is just a dream because every dream always has those random moments that never made sense and _this_ was that one random moment that did not make sense. So I just decided to accept it the way it was and nodded.

"I guess I'll be leaving then." Somehow.

"Syaoran-kun. If you see my sister again, please tell her I said thank you . . . for coming back."

I nodded. I was going to keep the promise, but now more than ever, I wanted out of this place. After a quick smile from Namine, the room started to brighten up. It came to a point where it was too bright for my eyes to handle, so I ended up closing them with my hands overhead.

**B I O**_**—FREAK**_

I found myself sitting on the bed with my eyes towards the ground. Other than that _dream_, I couldn't remember how I got here, why I was here, or what time of the day it was. I couldn't even tell how long I've been awake or how long it was until curfew. As I was pondering about such pointless things, I noticed Sakura was gone. Immediately I began to panic.

Grabbing Ketsuui I made my way to the door and as I opened it, I was relieved to see Sakura standing in front of me. My sudden action seemed to have surprised her because she recoiled back a few inches.

"S—Syaoran, stop doing that!" she said.

"Sorry." I said after a sigh. "W—what were you doing?"

"I was in the bathroom. Now I'm just going to bed."

"Oh? What time is it?"

Sakura looked at me like I was clueless . . . which I actually was, but I couldn't tell her why. That weird dream-like thing I had, I think it was best kept to myself. "It's just a bit after dinner . . . Syaoran, are you okay?"

I shrugged. "I think I'm just a bit tired."

A bit after dinner? If I remembered, the last I fell asleep was the night Funata left . . . after _that_ night's dinner. Did I actually sleep an entire day? I wasn't quite sure, so I had to ask.

"Well," started Sakura, her nails to her mouth. "You've been on and off. You didn't have anything to eat today. I tried to get you to get up, but you just wouldn't."

"Oh. Yeah, that's right. Sorry."

I guess my body was on some sort of autopilot. Though the dream felt like maybe only twenty or thirty minutes, I was actually knocked out for nearly the entire day. I didn't really want to try and ask any more questions because I'd only get myself even more confused and sound even more ridiculous to Sakura, so I told her I was going to try and get something to eat and kissed her on the head before tucking her into bed.

"I'm not a baby." she said afterwards.

"Oh hush you little baby, there's no one around for you to be embarrassed."

"B—but Syao—"

Before she was able to finish, I jumped on the other side of the bed, making her bounce a few inches. I then swung an arm around her little body and set my gaze into her eyes. It had been a while, or maybe I was just too busy to notice them again, but her green eyes really glimmered, even in the dark and poorly lit room.

"Sakura, you know I love you right?" I said. She nodded. "And there's nothing . . . absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for you, right?" she nodded again. Before I said anything else, I pressed my lips against hers, tasting her sweet softness—if that made any sense.

When I pulled back, a blush ran across the bottom of her eyes. Her breathing began to harden and I could feel her face getting hot. She pulled a blanket against her chest and quickly stared away to the side.

"A—am I too young for that kind of kiss?" she asked.

I laughed. "Does it matter? We _are_ getting married, aren't—" I forgot. Funata was the one that was going to wed us. But she wasn't here anymore. Now what was going to happen? I don't think anyone else would want to wed us. The most they'd do is probably laugh at us before rejecting or ignoring us. "We'll still get married." I assured her. "We will."

As I kissed her on the lips again, I got up off the bed and headed towards the door.

"Syaoran." I turned back at the sound of her voice. "I—I—I'm still a—available . . . for you."

Clumsy girl. Even after all she's been through, after all we've been through, she's still the same girl she once was back before we moved. For some reason, even though it might make me sound perverted and wrong, I was happy.

"Go to sleep." was all I said though. "I'll see you in the morning." With that said, I made my way down to the commons, hoping that maybe I was still able to get something to eat.

**B I O**_**—FREAK**_

I was lucky enough to get at least _some_ food. The commons was closing down their food service, but I was able to get two bananas and an apple to eat. It wasn't much at all, but enough to calm my stomach from hunger.

After I ate, I managed to find Takashi just before he went out for his shift. Thought it was probably a pointless question, I just had to ask him why there was a need for so many soldiers on guard all the time.

"It's not for _them_ as you'd probably think. There's only one way out and one way in. If anything, the soldiers up top would take care of things." He said for a start. "We soldiers take watch on the inside merely for order. In such a free zone like this inside a hell hole, as you know, it can get chaotic if people start losing their mind. There was a riot the first week I was here. Luckily they were reminded that there _are_ other people here with guns, and will use them at any means necessary to keep others safe."

It made a lot of sense. But then I wondered, did they ever think about maybe what if someone ended up turning? I decided to keep that to myself. Better off that no one knew because it'd most likely cause some sort of scare.

After he left, I sat on at the edge of a table all by myself. Nothing but the janitors and a couple soldiers around me. I took the moment to ruminate about what really happened with my little _dream_ and Namine. It really didn't make sense how things could be so clear, but the more I thought about it, the more towards an actual conclusion I got. Eventually, I came to accept it.

It was an ikiryo. That's all it was, that's all it had to be. I was never the biggest believer, but now, I suppose that anything could happen.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

As I made my way back to the room, I took the catwalk route because there were a number of people crowding the door I usually took. Sure, maybe if I would've waited another few minutes I would've been through, but stubborn me couldn't wait. On the other hand, I also wanted to talk to Yukito. Just something about this place bothered me and I really wanted to get that out. Maybe it bothered me so much because someone just died, or maybe there was another reason. Mysteries always swarmed my mind no matter how much I try to clear out. I'm sure you know that by now.

The door to his lab was open as I made my way around the catwalk. Usually it was closed, but maybe tonight was something special? Curiosity took me over and I ended up entering.

"Hello?" I called. No one was there; just the same old things I saw the first time I was pushed in here.

The room was quite cold. Though enclosed and with no windows what-so-ever, I could feel some sort of breeze whirling around me. It's nothing that would bother me or something that I'd feel unless I really paid attention. I walked over to the desk. Nothing but an expensive looking computer and some scattered papers. To a table on the next wall were just jugs and glass of colored chemicals.

Then there it was the shrouded capsule. Dark shoulder angel says I should, light shoulder angel says I shouldn't. If you've ever been in any of these situations where you end up talking to yourself, you know that you never do what was the right thing. There it goes again, the gift that killed us all, human curiosity.

When I grabbed the cloak, I felt a small pinch down in my stomach. It didn't necessarily hurt, but it did sting for a moment. It felt like butterflies were inside and attacking something. After another second to clear the pain away, I pulled the thick piece of clothing off and watched as it slowly, but heavily, fell to the ground. And when I looked at what was in front of me, I began to regret doing what I just did.

My eyes felt like they swelled, my heart began to have an attack, the muscles in my body were frozen, and the nerves in my brains shut down. Even though I wanted to run, I couldn't, even though I wanted to scream, I couldn't. Something told me to get out of this room, but I didn't. It was like I was drawn to it by some magical force, or maybe it was just me being stunned by the sight.

Just as I thought my feelings couldn't get any worse, the pain I once had started to come back. I clutched my stomach and fell to the floor. I thought I'd be able to get used to it eventually, but not this time. This time, the pain was horrendous, so much that I felt like death was upon me. My breathing stopped, and as I tried to scream, nothing came out but air, and worst, I couldn't breathe in. It was like I had the wind knocked out of me.

Weakly, I struggled to catch my breath, failing to do so, and did nothing else but fixed my eyes on what was upon me. In a capsule full of water, was one of _them_ . . . one of those _freaks_ that we helplessly tried to escape from. We came here, of all places, because it was suppose to be freak-free, but now . . . It was like out journey . . . our near-death experience was nothing but a fluke . . .

_Why?_

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it and please take your time to review!  
I don't quite exactly know how long this story is going to be.  
But I wouldn't count on it ending any time soon.  
There are still a few more phases I plan on putting in.  
So please, enjoy and thank you for all you fans who've been following this story!**


	17. Flee

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** This chapter will be _very_ vague I warn you. Please do not think that anything will make any sense to you. I am purposely making it so. Why?—you may ask. I don't want to give the story away, but just understand that there are just some things that won't make sense or won't be told. I guess you can compare it to like a zombie story. A lot of the times in zombie movies, you aren't even told how the zombies started. I will give a better description of what I'm trying to say at the end of this chapter.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Seventeen…  
**Flee

Never in my life had I imagined things would come to this. Never in my life would I have imagined that the things I go through to escape death would have come to this. It all was too unrealistic. Did the world really come to this? Did the world really come to a place where nothing can go right? This just wasn't happening.

The covers quickly dragged over the capsule once again and this time Yukito blasted at me, "Why are you in here?" he yelled.

I looked over at the door and saw that it was closed. "Why is _it_ in there?" I yelled back.

"You really shouldn't have done that." was his reply.

"I could easily say the same to you, you sly piece of shit. What the hell do you think you're doing holding one of these things in here like some sort of exp—" I paused, letting things come to mind. "What could you be possibly trying to learn?"

The room that was once a clamor suddenly became calmer. "Nothing in particular," said Yukito. "But it helps to learn _something_ from them. But now that you know about what I do, I don't know what to do with you."

What to do with me? For a moment, I wondered if the thought of killing me ever reached his mind. Was it the right thing to do? I wasn't even sure, but it was always an option in every movie I've seen; an option that I didn't very much enjoy, but an option.

"You know what I _could_ do though?" I said.

"I am well aware of everything you _could_ do. You could, of course, run around and tell everyone about this. Then one of two possibilities will happen. No one will believe you, or you'll cause a panic, thus, making this place unsafe."

"As if this place isn't safe already with that _thing_ there? How did you even manage to capture—" No, why didn't I think of it a bit ago? He didn't capture this thing, this thing wasn't captured, it wasn't snuck in. This thing . . . _he_ was here already to begin with. "This is . . . Takashi-san's—"

"Younger brother, correct."

"But why?"

Yukito took in a deep breath and relaxed himself before saying, "It was a bit over three months back. Believe me, I never intended for this to happen, but it was the smartest thing to do. Takashi's younger brother, Inoko, had symptoms of _turning_. He had a high fever well above average, sudden pain, and hallucinations. He _asked_ me to do what I'm doing now in order to help others. Is there really a problem using someone else's death to learn about these creatures _with_ that person's permission?"

"No, but it's wrong to not tell his brother!"

"I promised that I wouldn't say a word to Takashi, and so I keep my promises."

This conversation started to make sense, but at the same time started to become pointless. What was I trying to get to? All I could do is say this and that, ask this and that, and Yukito just fires non-hesitant answers right back at me. If there was a winning side, it would have to be him because I had nothing else to say.

Even now, Takashi-san seemed to have moved on from his _missing_ brother. It was far too late to tell him anything. Even though the thought of having a freak in what was supposed to be a _safe_ zone really hammered me, it was better than letting a dead body run free killing everyone.

"I won't tell anyone," I said. "That's probably the most stupidest thing I could do at the moment. Cause a stir or make me look like a fool, none what I would want either."

A smile crossed Yukito's face, but it was an evil smile almost. "Good. I wouldn't want trouble here as well. Now get out of here, it's passed curfew for you."

I didn't say another word. What was there to say? Sure, I could've started up another pointless rattle hoping that it would get me somewhere, but I didn't.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

I didn't sleep. Either because I wasn't tired from me recent sleep, or I was thinking too much. All I did was lay in bed with the back of Sakura against me chest, spooning her. Her hair smelt of soap and shampoo—lemon, of all things. Now, more than ever, I started to really miss the way we _used_ to live. We were trouble free, worry free, _freakless_. We knew nothing of what was happening now; all that we cared about was each other. That's what I wanted back; I wanted to just worry about her and me.

The next time I closed my eyes, I surprisingly found myself asleep. But this time, again, I dreamed. But it didn't feel like a dream, like my last moment I had, this felt real, as if I went back in time.

It was about two months after I had met Sakura, back in a post-apocalyptic Tomoeda. We were walking around town, trying to see and get a complete feel of how everything was, what buildings were gone, what place we could use as a reasonable source for food and water when we ran out, and such.

"No more gas stations," said Sakura.

"They've been looted already."

For the most part that is. All that was left were some bags of chips and kitchen supplies. Water and all sorts of drinks were gone. If we wanted something to keep us alive, it wasn't going to be here.

"Maybe we should try looking someplace else," I said, looking around the gas station store still. As I began to walk one way, Sakura tugged on my arm the other. "What's wrong?"

She tilted her legs inward and said, "I—I have to pee."

The words struck me by surprised. "Can't you wait until we get home?"

"No," she said shaking her head. Her cheeks flared almost embarrassingly.

"Well, there's a bathroom in the gas station over there." I pointed out. I waited for Sakura to get going, but she only gave me a face. "What?"

"Come with me!"

Of course, with blood writings on the wall in a post-apocalyptic setting, no one would feel comfortable by themselves.

"Fine, let's go."

The gas station we went in was surprisingly cleaner than most we've recently seen. Sure enough, everything was gone: bags of chips, canned goods, bottles of pop or water, juices, kitchen supplies, and so for. The reason why it was cleaner was because there weren't much signs of negative activity other than looting: no blood-stained walls, dead bodies on the floor and such. Probably the cleanest place I've seen in a while.

When Sakura entered the bathroom, I waited outside, back against the door like I was some kind of body guard. I even crossed my arms and kept my gaze forward as if I stared out to a line.

"Don't leave me!" I heard Sakura yell from within.

"I won't." I told her.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

After that, things got quiet.

At that time, only a bit over two months after NHE, you'd think that I'd probably lose my mind still, but surprisingly even to me, I didn't. I was well over things for the most part. Sure, I still wished that people were alive and that this all never actually happened, but in the end, I guess I came to accept it easily. It must be an easy thing when you hated your life to begin with.

A sudden crashing sound to my side caught my attention. Literally, it almost scared me. It was a quiet sound, so I don't think it was enough for Sakura to hear. She didn't say anything, so I could only assume she didn't hear anything.

Once again, curiosity took over me and lead me to the strange sound. I went in through a pair of double-doors and into the back room. The back room was cold, and in any perfect horror movie, showed sign of death.

Across the room, several medal crates were on the floor with empty cardboard boxes scattered around it. _Was that what made that noise?_ I juggled possibilities in my head. Unless it was already on the verge of falling, which was highly improbable, nothing made sense. Really, it was almost scary to think of anything that _would_ make sense.

Now I began to feel slightly uncomfortable. The room was seriously creeping me out. So I did what any creeped out person would do, leave. As I turned, I bumped into a steel shelf and felt a large lined cut on my right forearm. A deep cut had formed and blood began to slowly swell. The pain started slow, so I didn't care to notice it until I got back to the bathroom, where Sakura was already out and looking for me.

"Syaoran, where—oh what happened?" she said.

"Just a cut," I replied quietly. I turned back to the back room and then took Sakura's hand and started walking out the store. "Come on, let's get out of here."

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

Death was something I was used too already at the time. But that moment felt like something worst than death. What could be worse than death? Maybe the feeling of knowing there's really no point in life anymore.

That's what I felt now. That feeling I had back then is the exact feeling I have now. Though the scenario is nowhere near similar, I feel as helpless now like I did for that instant moment.

We came here for safety . . . and now . . . pathetic.

I got up, sweat gleaming down my face as usual and made my way out the door. When I closed the door quietly behind me, Takashi stood in the hallway, eyes beaming over at me surprised to see me awake. Just looking at him made me remember his brother in the container—his brother that was now an _it_.

"What are you doing awake, Syaoran-kun?" Takashi asked.

I shook my head, "Couldn't sleep, is that alright?"

From the dim lit hallway, I could see a small smile cross his face. "I'm about to change shifts out to the main area. Would you like to join me for a while? I'll make you an exception.

Nothing better to do I suppose, "Sure," I said.

We got to the highest level of catwalk. There was no one else but Takashi and I roaming the area. The urge to talk of his brother was so strong in me, but I knew I shouldn't—I couldn't. The way I feel about life now didn't help. I felt like I could die, this whole place could go to hell—if it wasn't there already—and I wouldn't care. But then, the thought of Sakura . . .

"Why we do this, questions me all the time." said Takashi.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Patrol of course. I mean, we already have a squad outside of the gates and on the upper ground of the city, so I don't really see a point in spectating this place."

"Well, I suppose you never know what might happen."

"Knowing everything that's happened, yeah, I guess. Hey can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Just curiosity really, but what will you do now that Funata is gone?"

I thought for a moment. Not another one of these. What _was_ there to do? "Sakura's the only reason I have left to live. So as long as she lives, I'll do whatever I can to make sure she's happy."

"I guess that's the goal in life—always have been. She must mean a lot to you."

I glowered in the darkness. "She's _everything_ to me."

"Of course, I'm sorry—huh? Yeah?"

Suddenly static rang in his walky-talky. A dull voice murmured through it, but I managed just a little bit. My ears jumped, the voices sounded commanding, but a second later the commanding voices turned into screams.

"Tohma-senpai!" yelled Takashi. But the radio went dead.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know." was his reply. "Runo-senpai, did you catch that?" he spoke into his radio again.

"Yeah, we're heading up to investigate it." A woman's voice echoed through.

"You should head back to your room," insisted Takashi.

"Hold up, I want to know what's happening."

"Well I—" suddenly red lights blared from all over. That dark dome suddenly flashed in the color of blood, giving me a jump of fear. Then a couple seconds later, a high-pitched siren started to sound. My ears almost burst, dropping me to my knees but Takashi held me back up.

I couldn't hear, but I could see Takashi talking into his radio, yelling—no, screaming—and he looked just as panicked as I was. After failing to get a reply back, so it seemed, he pulled me closer to him and yelled, "Go back to your room." I barely heard it, but I didn't hesitate no more to do it. I bolted down the catwalk to the lower floor and through the set of doors and hallways. Soldiers with guns poured out in a hurry towards where I came from and people who came out of their rooms with hands cuffed over their ears were forced back in.

I burst into my room and found Sakura backed against the bed, covering herself in blanket. I came up to her and wrapped my arms around her.

"What's going on?" she cried. Again, I could barely hear her.

"I don't know," I yelled back, trying to overpower the siren. "But we're not staying here."

Sakura stared at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I was actually. She shook her head in detest and confusion. "What do you mean? I didn't hear what I thought I heard, did I?" Just as she yelled that, the siren stopped, but the red blaring lights, even in the room, continued. Her sweet soft skin flashed with black and red, reminding me of the colors and times I didn't want to be reminded of.

"Come on, I don't care, we are _not_ staying here anymore." I searched for Ketsuui and grabbed it.

"S—Syaoran, I don't mean to say this but, you're crazy!" for the first time since I can remember, she was going against me.

"I'm sorry princess, but we have to go."

"We've only just gotten here though! Syaoran!"

I stopped what I was doing. The red lights, the _thing_ in the lab, the disturbances outside, the people with guns, what kind of safe place was this? I didn't want to live here, I didn't want Sakura to live here, but what if she didn't understand me? I'm in so much of a mess right now that I can't even understand myself and I hate it.

I felt a hand clutch mine. "Okay," said Sakura. "We'll go."

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I don't mean to put you through all off this, but—"

"No," she cut me off. "Let's go. Let's go find Onee-chan."

That's right. Funata was still out there and it also gave us a destination: the mountains where she lived. I don't know if it'll be any better, but now, I didn't care; anyplace would've been better than here.

When I opened the door to the halls, there were still people who refused to stay in their rooms and lingered around, wondering what was happening. Most had panicked faces, others had confusion.

"Where are we going though?" asked Sakura.

"Shhh. Just follow me." I said.

We made our way around the halls and ended up exactly where I wanted. The lab. When I was sure no one was around us, I knocked on the door. "You crazy scientist, open up!" A moment passed where I thought no one was even in it, but eventually the door opened and I pulled Sakura in. "What's going on?" I asked.

Even this room was blaring with red lights.

Yukito, after closing the door behind us, quickly walked back to his seat in front of his computer and started to fiddle with buttons.

"I was afraid this was going to happen." He said. "There's been a breach. Everyone who's been guarding the ground level is dead and now the monsters are making their way underground."

"Well then what do we do? Isn't that the only way out?" I asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, he walked over to a shroud and unveiled it, revealing Takashi's brother once again. Sakura jumped back behind me and yelped.

"W—what are you—why?" she stumbled to find words just like I did. Sakura shivered in fear and clutched my hand even harder.

"Syaoran," he started. "I'm glad you came here, because, to tell you the truth, I wouldn't have opened the door for anyone else.

The words struck me hard. Was Yukito really that heartless? Or was their some other special reason?

"You really are just a monster, aren't you?"

"Please don't see me like that. Remember, I am a scientist. I thrive in learning and studying about life . . . especially now, people like me want to do whatever it takes to know why the things that happened are happening. Now, I think I've learned the reason. Take a look—"

"I don't care to take a look, I want to get out of here!" I yelled.

But Yukito was as calm as ever. "I will assure our escape, but at least let me explain what I can."

"_Our_ escape? What about everyone else?"

Yukito pointed to his computer screen. It showed multiple videos of the main commons and several halls that were still flashing red. In the video that showed the main area, gun-fires were flashing, and the soldiers were being killed. The freaks have already breached. That meant that Takashi was . . . The other videos showed regular people running for their lives as they were being chased down in the halls by the freaks. A tear rolled down my cheeks and Sakura pushed her face into my arm. I was only here not too long ago, and already everything's gone straight to hell. It was unbelievable, but it was happening. Everything was being lost.

"As a scientist, I'm also thinking logical. So please, let me explain what I can."

I almost collapsed to my knees. More blood was not what I wanted. But what could I do now? "Fine, do what you want, say what you have to, just please get us out of here!"

Yukito calmly nodded. He then began to pack a backpack with several supplies Things that I couldn't even recognize. "Do you know about the theory of how much a person uses their brain?" said Yukito while stuffing a red rectangular box in his bag.

The question threw me off-guard for a moment. "Something like ten percent or something like that."

"Yeah—"

"But it's never been proven correct."

"It's never been proven wrong as well. I don't have the data to show you, it probably wouldn't even make sense to you even if I did, but my studies on Inoko is something beyond what I thought I could do. Before he _turned_, his brainwaves measured pretty normal. On a scale it'd look like wavy solid pattern showing up on a heart monitor. But after he turned, everything changed; his results were doubled and even growing."

For a moment I was lost, but I managed to catch on. "So you're saying—assuming you're relating this to that brain theory—that he jumped from using ten percent of his brain to twenty? You're saying because he got smarter, he became this."

"Because you unlock more of your brain doesn't mean you get smarter. Think of it like someone who exceeds the limits of power. You've seen the anime's, it's not always good for them, in fact, it can go well against them and kill them. Take the brain usage as the power of humans. To us, that ten percent usage of our brain is adapted to a hundred percent. With only ten percent, we're able to build nuclear war missiles, cure diseases, make something out of nothing really. Now imagine if we exceed that ten percent and turn it into twenty, thirty, forty, or even eighty. That would well exceed our one hundred percent threshold."

"Because no one's use to this sudden transformation, it affects them negatively."

"Right."

"What kind of things would you be able to do with that amount of brain usage?"

Yukito shrugged. "I don't know. It all depends on how much and who that person is. I mean, anything is possible: super human strength, speed, and because the brain can perceive one's self, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was able to _create_ some sort of physical persona just by thinking about it."

"Physical persona?"

"Yeah. Like the dark for example. If you fear the dark and imagine some sort of monster, you'd be able to create that monster into an actual physical thing. Not just fooling yourself anymore, but actually creating something out of nothing."

I shook my head. What does that mean for me? Create something just by using my head? It seemed almost crazy and impossible, but then I thought about Madness. He called himself Madness because . . . he was _my_ madness. Every time he talked, he talked about me creating him, always being there only because I made him there. What did that mean for me?

"Do not expect this make any sense, however, I'm only merely just taking a wild guess. There could be multiple other reasons as well."

A scream boomed from behind the door. Sakura and I backed away, fear dazing in our heads.

"Help, please, help!" I heard. It was a woman's voice.

"S—shouldn't we help her?" asked Sakura.

As much as I'd love to help, Yukito and I knew we couldn't. Not without risking us. "We can't, Sakura."

"But—" the screams turned even more horrid as it died with pain. "She's . . ."

"Why are they coming here?" I asked. "Why are they killing everyone?"

"These monsters aren't just zombies that aimlessly do as they please. It seems as though they have a goal. They can communicate with one another. Why wouldn't they be able do if their brain usage is more than us?"

"So they want Inoko then?"

"Maybe . . . just like a pack of wolves. They want to be together."

"Well then let's move! I'm done waiting here. I'll have to take in what you just told me _after_ we survive."

Yukito strapped on his backpack. "Very well then, follow me. Do you have a knife on you?"

I gave him Ketsuui. He unsheathed it and stuck it into the ground, using it as a lift to bring up the floor tile. When he managed to take the tile off about an inch, Yukito continued with his hands and pulled the floor up, revealing a dark hole.

"This here will lead us out, so hurry." He said.

I didn't want to ask questions, I didn't care to ask questions. I was getting out with Sakura. Just as I jumped in, I was surprised on how deep it was—not very. I was still able to stand with my head above the ground.

"We're crawling?" I asked.

"If you'd rather stay here, be my guess." said Yukito.

I helped Sakura down. Just as she jumped, someone started to bang on the door. There was no screaming, or yelling. Not only that, the banging sounded a lot louder and harder than any normal human would've been able to do.

Yukito lowered to a whisper, "Let's go." He jumped in and closed the tile over us.

I saw nothing but darkness. The ground underneath us was wet and muddy, damping my hands and knees. I don't know where this would lead, but I sure hoped that it lead us somewhere out and safe for at least a little while.

To everyone who was still trapped inside, Takashi . . . I'm sorry.

* * *

**This and the next chapter will be me trying to explain things. Remember that because this is a first person story, I'm making it so the reader will only understand what Syaoran is understanding. So if it feels confusing to you, do not be alarmed. If you'd like to learn more about what I'm trying to do, just look up that theory of the brain.**


	18. Beautiful

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n: **This chapter is a shorter chapter than the others. As you know, a lot's happened within the recent chapters, and so while writing this chapter, I had on a calming music the entire time. I wanted to create a "break" I guess you can say. Shakespeare called this a "comic relief". A small episode to calm things down and relax the tension. So-without straying from the story itself-I built this chapter for a calm read. Also, a lot of you have missed the Syaoran and Sakura moments, so this chapter will be for you especially. Now sit back, play a nice smooth calm music (like a violin or piano song) and enjoy. Don't forget to review as well.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Seventeen…  
**Beautiful

It's been a day now since we left. We managed to find a small building to stay in, but we didn't stay in there for long. As soon as it got bright out the next morning, we were off. I didn't quite know exactly where Yukito wanted to go, but I knew where I wanted to go, the Oku Shirane Mountains, because that's where Funata was going. But in order to do that, we had to get to Tokyo first, and in order to do that, we had to make our way over Tokyo Bay.

For the first time ever since I can remember, the sun brew extremely not. There was surprisingly not a single cloud in the sky. Every night, a dawn will rise . . . every dreadful bloodshot, a beautiful day will come. This world is perfectly balanced isn't it?—not.

The bay wasn't far, so we managed to reach it easily. But because an easy always had a hard, we frowned upon what to do next.

"None of us knows how to drive a boat, huh." I murmured. We reached the dock, but with line-ups of boats, we didn't know where to start.

"It can't be that hard, right?" said Yukito, "I'll go find a key." He left into a shed not so far away from here.

Once he was gone, Sakura took my hand and swung in front of me and asked, "Do you think there'll be some survivors?"

I couldn't believe she brought it up. I thought downing myself for an entire night was enough, but I guess it wasn't. Though it was to survive, I still couldn't forgive myself for leaving everyone to die. But what I couldn't forgive the most was Yukito. What he said back then, _I wouldn't have opened the door for anyone else._ What kind of person would even say that?

Looking down at Sakura, all I could say was, "Let's not worry about that. We have to find Funata, remember?"

Glowering, Sakura nodded, "I hope Onee-chan's alright."

Smiling I said, "You really think she wouldn't be? Come on, if you could survive in a forest on your own she can survive hell on her own. Remember, she was fine before she met us too."

"You're right!"

After something so dreadful happened, what else can you do? You can't turn back time, you can't bring people back to life the way they once were, you can't save the people that are already dead . . . you can't even save _us_ even though eventually, no matter what we do, we will _turn_ into one of them. Why it hasn't happened yet, I don't know. But as long as it doesn't and as long as I have Sakura . . . I'll fight. I also have to make up for Takashi too. He gave his life to try to protect everyone. It's sad for me to say this because it makes me sound selfish, but everything we do, think, and say is true. We can't keep crying about the past, so we'll try not to. If Sakura wants to be happy and have what fun she can, so will I. If Yukito, being a scientist, needs something to learn about these things, I won't stop him . . . as long as it doesn't interfere with Sakura and me of course.

When I heard engines running, I jumped with surprise, which also surprised Sakura enough for her to let go of my hand.

"Over here!" Yukito yelled.

We followed his voice and found him standing on quite a luxurious boat. It had a steering wheel with a frontal window for the driver. Everywhere else was leather seats lined up inside the side of the boat.

"You've found one already?" asked Sakura.

Yukito smiled, "It wasn't that hard. The name on the key matched the name on the boat. But get on, we don't have much time."

Once we got on, Yukito didn't waste any time. He unwrapped and unanchored the boat, and before I even got a chance to sit down, we were off.

My hair blew back and the sun's wind caught me with surprise. It was like I never smelt the wind before. My stomach growled, but it wasn't for food, it was because the wind smelt so great.

I found a lifejacket and threw it to Sakura. "Put it on," I said.

Sakura looked at me with disgust. "You're kidding, right?"

I shook my head. "No, put it on."

"But you and Yukito-san don't have one on. You're treating me like a little girl again! I'm supposed to be your fiancé!"

"Fiancé?" Yukito broke in.

Yukito was ignored.

"I can swim too, you know that right?" yelled Sakura.

This was really getting nowhere. But then the boat floor under my feet jumped, throwing me off balance and throwing Sakura against a seat. She yelped and cried, but got back to her feet just as fast as I did.

"Sorry, that was a . . . _bump_?" said Yukito, his voice in confusion.''

When I looked at Sakura again, she didn't have her lifejacket anymore. "Where did—"

"Oh," said Sakura interrupting me with extreme sarcasm, "I must've accidentally let go of it and it flew off the edge of the boat. Lifejacket-san, where oh where could you be?"

She was taunting me! I gripped my fist and cringed my face. "Don't make me throw you in there—" I stopped and noticed that we had come to a very sudden slow down. "Y—Yukito, what's wrong?" He didn't answer. Instead he actually turned the boat around which began to startle me. "Why're we going back?"

"I think we hit something." He said.

"Wasn't it just a bump in the water? A boat ride is always bumpy like that." said Sakura.

"Yeah, but a bump that hard could only have been caused if we had gone over a wave." mentioned Yukito.

"And?" I said.

Yukito looked at me like I had missed something important. "And . . . how could their possibly be a big wave? There's not wind, no other boat out there, so we must've hit something."

It made sense. Quickly, Sakura and I scrambled to the front of the boat as Yukito circled around. Sakura dipped her head off the edge of the boat while I just merely lazily scanned around.

"Anything?" asked Yukito.

I continued to lazily scan around. "No." Did it really matter if we found something? It couldn't been a log for all we know—I paused with sweat running down my forehead. Sakura screeched and fell back in the boat. Quickly I rushed to comfort her. "What happened? What was it?" She pointed to where she was and said,

"Body!"

"Huh?" With haste, I went to the front of the boat and looked down at the water. Yukito then came to my side. I can't say I was in shock, because I wasn't, but I guess it was disgusted once again. This body seemed rotten. It's flesh was ripped off and the person's jaw was detached, only hanging by a thread of skin and floating alongside it's head.

"Poor thing." said Yukito. "He was killed by the freaks."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"His body of course." Yukito got up and made his way back to the driver seat. "We should keep going."

About ten minutes later, at the rate we were going, we were nearly halfway across the bay, halfway until we reached Tokyo. Really, I didn't know what to expect; maybe _nothing_, just like Chiba.

Just when I thought I was able to see Tokyo from the horizon, the boat croaked, and slowly we drifted to a stop. Sakura and I looked at each other in confusion, both wondering why we had stopped again. Then we heard Yukito yelling, "No, no, _no!_" This couldn't have been good.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We . . . ran out of gas." He replied.

"_What?_" both Sakura and I yelled in unison. Then I added, "You can't be serious."

Yukito looked at me with a solemn look. "Did you really just ask that?"

I stumbled back, "I suppose . . ." I sat down at the front of the boat and threw my arms to the side. Sakura, who looked just as disappointed as I was, sat next to me.

"So now what, Syaoran?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know. Eventually it'll get dark."

Yukito nodded, "So then let's hope they can't swim or else we'll be in big trouble. Syaoran, Sakura-chan, when night falls, try to be as quiet as you can."

Sakura nodded, "But then what? We're stuck here even after the night goes away."

"We'll just have to hope that the wind picks up or something and drags us _towards_ Tokyo." I mentioned.

That's all we could hope for. This should've been something that I expected. There was no way we'd be able to cross easily without something happening to us. This was just way too easy. But now, I guess I jinxed us.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

It may have been just the day after an onslaught, and we may be stranded in the middle of a huge bay, but the day was as perfect as perfect could get. I was able to enjoy a fresh sun while I could and now I'm enjoying the brightest moon I've seen in months. It glistened—almost full—and helped the stars around it bloom. Luckily, there still weren't any clouds, so I was able to enjoy this gaze with Sakura.

"I remember when we were able to look at stars like this." said Sakura. The boat rocked us steadily, the sound of water was soothing, and the sound of her calm voice in the outdoors was a melody to me. "And . . . you know, I would cry and all."

I smiled, "You still do." I managed to catch a tear fall down her cheek. It was a nice moment really. It was actually just like back when we lived in our home. We were able to be happy with one another, but at the same time, we were well aware of everything around us. But like I said before, we couldn't stop what had already happened, so we just had to move on.

"Do you remember our promises?"

There were so many complicated promises that I almost laughed. "We have some hard ones."

She giggled softly, "I suppose . . . hold me." I did.

Just as I embraced her, Yukito, who had been sleeping for the past half hour, came up to us on the front of the boat and knelt down in front of us. "Shh, do you hear that?" he whispered.

Sakura and I listened attentively. There was nothing in the water, so the sound of water didn't disrupt anything, and the sound of the wind was all but none. In the far distant, I don't quite know where, but under the moonlight, I could hear some sort of low screaming—no, roar. It echoed into the night. On a regular basis, I'd probably find it horrifying, but with the way the night was now, I—as weird as it may seem—found it beautiful, almost enchanting like a new melody I had gotten used to.

"They're like a pack of wolves like I said," said Yukito. "They don't wander with randomness—nothing on Earth does that. They have a goal . . . I don't know what that goal is, but it's something. They're just like humans . . . they _are_ humans, but of a different kind. Like humans, they have a goal to thrive in life. That's why, Syaoran, Sakura-chan, I'm doing what I do, and I did what I did. Think of it like a doctor wanting to study a field and a disease that he or she knows has no cure to it. Why waste time on it if you can't cure it? It's the thrive in life that helps them. They know it's difficult, nearly impossible, but they still do it because they have hope, they want to be fighting for something. The situation now in this world is still the same. You know what I'm thriving for in life now, what's yours, Syaoran?"

For someone who I thought was really sick and twisted, under the moon he gleamed like a hero. I know that leaving behind all those people was a horrible thing to do, but at the same time I understand completely what Yukito was saying. What motivates him to keep on living is to study these things, these _freaks_ in hopes that maybe there is a cute, or even maybe he can help whoever else is still alive protect themselves.

My thrive in life, though I'm only just a kid still, is to protect Sakura and make it so that she lives this hell of a world as happily as she could. This is something that I didn't have back before all of this happened. I didn't have a goal in life, I had nothing to keep me going, I had no motivation, I had no _thrive_ . . . sadly that's what I thought. But the truth is, I did. _Naminé_. I didn't know it back then because I didn't care. But she was my motivation; she was what I should've been thriving for. She was always there for me and I never recognized her the way I should've. But I won't let this other opportunity go to waste anymore. I _will_ do _everything_ I can for Sakura.

"I'm thankful actually. It got dark even faster today. It might've actually been a good thing that we ran out of gas." said Yukito. He moved back to the back of the boat and lied down on the benched seat. "Time for some sleep, seems like we're safe out here."

By this time, Sakura was already asleep under my arm. I pat her head and slowly set Ketsuui on the ground.

For a day that seemed like things couldn't get any worst, it turned out to be pretty fine.

To the side of the boat, Naminé sat with her hair straightened down. Her eyes glimmered in the moonlight and her smile was provokingly beautiful. She stared at me, but this time with happiness in her eyes.

"Thank you, Syaoran-kun." she said.

She was real. She wasn't a fake. She wasn't just an illusion that my mind was pulling. This was her soul . . . unrested because of the things I couldn't figure out.

"I'm sorry I took so long to realize things." I said.

Naminé shook her head, "Don't be. You were always dense. But I'm glad you're finding your way now. Find my sister . . . and take care of little Sakura-chan too, okay?"

I nodded, "I won't fail you again." With another smile, Naminé dissolved into the beautiful midnight sky like shattering dreams. "Thank you too, Naminé."

Sakura wiggled under my arm, "Huh? Syaoran, did you say something?"

I clutched her head, "No. Come on, get to sleep, we have a big day tomorrow."

I, Li Syaoran, and the person I cherish most, Kinomoto Sakura, aren't the only ones left on Earth. These creatures, the _freaks_—short for biofreaks—are like a pack of wolves. They have a goal in life. But no one knows what it is. Maybe if we find out, we'll be able to help them? Help us? Maybe. We still know nothing about them, but like Yukito's ambition, we _will_ learn eventually.

* * *

**Okay maybe I lied. The first half wasn't as calming as I said it would be, but the second half definately was, I think. haha. But I hope you still enjoyed.  
Don't forget to drop a review : ) thank you for everyone who's been patient with me. I greatly appreciate it.**

**Oh and I'm also very happy that not a lot of people found the explanation as confusing as I thought it would be. I'm glad you all understood the point of it at the least.**

**Let me clarrify that a "Comic relief" doesn't necessarily have to be comical. Its just there to relieve some of the tentsion that's been happening.**


	19. Mall

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:**Hope you all enjoyed your End of the World scare. I just got done witih a long months of Finals so that's why I didn't update anything. But I'm finally on break!

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Nineteen…  
**Mall

When dawn broke, the three of us were wide awake. I wasn't sure if it was because we actually had a good night sleep or because it had gotten to be too cold to sleep. Sakura, who had been sneezing ever since she woke up, wrapped herself in Yukito's lab coat. He may have been a scientist, but under his white T-shirt, I could tell that he was at least built enough to handle heavy lifting. The nerdy scientists didn't look so nerdy anymore.

"Well what do you know," said Yukito holding a couple of paddles. "We're in luck—since we've moved probably nowhere during the night."

I looked at him in awe, "You make it sound like you've known they were there the whole time."

"They were just under the seat. Here, take one." Yukito tossed me one paddle and moved to the center of the boat. "Take the other side—"

"You expect us to paddle this ten ton boat across nearly an entire bay?" I tried to make sense out of what I was saying, but in the end, even I knew we had to do it. "Man . . ."

"It's okay, Syaoran," said Sakura sniffling. "I'll help."

"No!" I retorted. "You're sick. You shouldn't be doing anything, just stay warm."

"But—"

"Sakura-chan," Yukito broke in. "Please let us handle this. Besides your too small to paddle by yourself. If Syaoran or I ever get tired, we'll let you help, okay? Until then, please warm up."

I was thankful Yukito said what he did, but one thing he said really struck me. If we _ever_ get tired? He talked like we're some super humans that can do anything. Maybe if I was built to be an Olympian, sure. Though she seemed a bit disappointed, Sakura scurried to the front of the boat and sat down quietly.

"Are you ready?" asked Yukito.

I forced a chuckle, "Do I have a choice?"

We began to paddle.

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

After the first few stroke I was already tired. But it didn't stop me. For what felt like almost an hour we peddled non-stop. I was breathless, sore, and dying for a drink of water. The sun, like yesterday, was gleaming beautifully, but now I didn't appreciate it as much as I did. Really, I wanted to ask for Sakura's help so much—that little extra strength would've helped so much—but she was still sick.

I finally got the chance to stop when Yukito said, "Look at that."

Breathlessly I looked up north. My eyes were shocked to have seen what I did. Tokyo. Unlike Chiba though, it wasn't in ruins—at least from what I could see. From the distance, I was able to see the tall buildings, and even Tokyo Tower.

"But how?" I asked.

"The military must've been able to stop the warhead from causing too much damage. It _is_ Tokyo. Sure, it was a big target, but also a city that the military would, of course, protect the most."

"Do you think there are people still?"

Yukito nodded, "Of course . . . it's just a matter of _which_ kind of people."

With that in mind, we paddled for another hour and a half or so. During that time, Sakura had taken her seat next to me. She had gotten a little better, so for the next twenty minutes or so until we got there, she helped.

Once we got to the end of the bay, the towers and buildings of Tokyo were still very much alive and standing. It was almost like Tomoeda, but a bit worst. I didn't trust any building above twenty stories—I felt like it would collapse and I didn't want to experience that again.

We crashed into sand. Right after Yukito jumped off, I grabbed Ketsuui and followed him. My arms were so sore I thought they were going to just fly off. It wasn't every day I had to do that kind of work out. The most I've probably ever done before NHE was probably having to run a couple miles for physical education.

Just as we took our first few steps off shore, I heard splashing and Sakura yelping in the back. Quickly Yukito and I turned to see Sakura sitting nearly waist high into the water; her hair droopy and clothing now wet.

"This isn't good." she said.

I sighed, "Well now we have to find some cloths and hope you don't catch a cold."

"We won't be able to walk across Tokyo in a day's worth of time, so we'll have to find a place to stop anyway."

"The mall—Venus Port!" exclaimed Sakura.

Shivers went down my spine and I cringed right after helping Sakura up from the fall. You know the drill; it's in every single horror film out there. Stranded people trying to fight for survival and they end up trapping themselves in a mall—things never go as well as they should.

"W—why, can I ask?" I asked.

Sakura smiled, "I've always wanted to go there. Besides, if we need to stop somewhere, why not stop there? I'm sure we can get their before dark!"

I sighed again. Yukito came up to us with an indecisive look: half thinking about the stories of malls in horror films and half tempting to want to go himself. "It's in the midst of the city. If we go now and fast, we should get there before dark."

An even bigger smile lifted upon Sakura. Was this even acceptable? "Yay!"

If you could see me now, I had probably the longest facial expression I've ever managed to make. In the manga's, it'd look like this, -_-"

As exciting as everyone was, when we took out first step into Tokyo, I could feel the wind suddenly blow death in my face. An uneasy feeling swept across my body that made me want to leave this place. For some reason though, that uneasy feeling wasn't the feeling of a freak. It was something else that I couldn't quite put a finger on.

"Is something wrong, Syaoran-kun?" asked Yukito.

His voice made me shift almost uneasily. I nodded, took Sakura's hand and we began to march inward. About ten minutes later or so of silent walking, I finally had to ask something that I never really cared for as much, but now it bothered me with all of these tall buildings—and now that we've passed one, a sewage drain. "They don't come out in the daytime, but then where are they?"

"Hiding, of course." answered Yukito.

"I know, but like where? Could we just talk into any random buildings and be attacked there?"

"You like to think about scary things, don't you?"

I shrugged, "I'm just saying."

"Don't worry about it, Syaoran." Sakura broke in, "It'll be fine, right?" her smile threw me off balance.

"I—I guess." She's so optimistic. I've only had to use Ketsuui once and I didn't feel like I wanted to use it again unless I really had to.

About an hour later or so later, the clouds above us started to form. They didn't seem friendly too—storm clouds. Based on the way the wind started to pick up and the misty taste around us, I would be seeing rain for the first time in ages. I thought it'd be nice, but then Yukito said,

"This isn't good."

Sakura and I looked over, "It's not?" said Sakura.

Yukito shook his head, "_They_ don't come out because of the sun. But now the clouds are completely blocking its rays."

Now was the time to panic. "S—so then now what?" I asked.

"We're actually almost there. Come on."

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

It only started to rain lightly, but we made it. To my surprise, the mall wasn't necessarily what I thought it would be. Instead of standing on its own, it was actually part of a strip. But that didn't matter. Once we got inside, I was amazed to see how beautiful it was—disregarding the broken glasses and looting of course. The place still seemed to be decent enough to even stay in for a while.

The place was dark, but a few window ceilings kept enough light so we could at least see; I don't think it's enough to actually keep us safe from anything though. For a mall in a post-apocalyptic setting, it was actually quite clean.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Nab what's left that may be useful," said Yukito, "Don't go too far away though."

It was actually easier said than done. After trolling around a few stores, Sakura and I managed to lose ourselves from Yukito. Maybe it was because we ended up wandering off to a lower level.

"Syaoran," said Sakura, "We're lost."

"Yeah, darling, you don't have to tell me." _Darling_ wasn't necessarily my _thing_. Sakura looked at me as if to tell me to never say that again. "Sorry. Hey, I have to go use the bathroom now."

"Now of all times?" exclaimed Sakura.

"Don't say it like that. When you have to go, you have to go." I retorted. It took another ten minutes, but we finally found a hallway that lead to the bathroom. I drew out Ketsuui—just for safety—and walked with Sakura closely behind me. When we got to the end, I said, "Wait here." And went in.

I don't really want to get into any details so I'll just skip on ahead.

When I finished, Sakura was gone from her waiting place. I figure maybe she went into the ladies room, but after about five minutes of waiting, that wasn't the case. She was just . . . gone. Panic started to rise in me. Where could she have gone? Nowhere. She's too scared to wander off by herself, especially this no protection.

I heard a faded high-pitched scream and immediately drew Ketsuui. "Sakura?" I did my best to follow the sound. The voice led me up a flight of stairs, around a few corners until I found myself coming to a dead end with a few stores—one being Domo-Kun's Factory. Noise of struggling caught my attention through a small hallway—alley-like—to the side of the stores. I crept my way through and saw a large shadowy figure with small legs kicking to the side. At first I thought it was the dark messing with my head, but soon saw that it was Sakura being smuggled to the floor.

"Syaoran!" she called.

"Hey, let go of her!" I yelled and charged. My first intention would've been to stab Ketsuui right into the attacker, but I had a sense that the attacker was still human, so I only tackled him.

Underestimating his strength, the man attacker caught me and took a hold of my hand and tossed me easily to the floor. Sakura yelped.

"Don't interfere!" the man yelled. As he came closer to me, his face started to get clear. He had piercings on his nose and ears, and his hair was bleached blonde. He looked to be a man in his mid-twenties. "Damn brats."

I tried feeling for Ketsuui, but I guess it managed to come out as I was tossed. The man began to charge towards me, but stopped at the sound of a cocked handgun.

"Yukito-san!" exclaimed Sakura and ran past the attacker to my aid.

Back where I can from Yukito stood with one hand on a pistol and the other onto his backpack strap. If I were actually watching this from someone else's eyes and not literally in the situation itself, I'd think he was a pretty cool guy. But the scene became too dramatic for me to think that properly.

"What's a man like you doing in a mall trying to molest an underage girl?" said Yukito. Suddenly I had one of those _My Hero_ thoughts.

Just as I thought we had things under control though, more cocked guns sounded off and before I even knew it, Yukito was surrounded by five other firearms—rifles.

"Drop your weapon," one of them said.

Yukito sighed and without even hesitating slowly lowered his gun to the floor.

For the second time, my chase of searching for Sakura ends with having multiple guns pointing at us. But this aura I had was completely worst—for a reason I didn't even know.

* * *

**Not the strongest or most developed chapter and definately not what you would want or expect after having to wait so long.  
But I wanted to most SOMETHING so you all will have something to read. So please review. I'll update the next chapter within the next 7 days (for sure)!**


	20. Tomoyo

**Summary:** Syaoran and Sakura are the only ones left on Earth. Now they live life together, trying to stay alive in the morning, live a normal life in the afternoon, and at night, pray that there is someone out there who's still alive. Little do they know, their prayers have been answered, but, they would soon wish it hadn't been.

**a/n:** Some news. Originally I thought this was only going to about a 15 chapter story, but I guess I got a little carried away. But, this is no lie, this _is_ the last chapter for this story . . . or if you think of it as an anime, it's the last episode for this season. I hope you all enjoy, and please, take a few seconds of your time and drop a review.

**Genre:** Romance, Tragic, Survival, Horror  
**Disclaimer:** Man if only I did…  
**Rating:** T – Violence

**Age Change:  
**Syaoran – 16  
Sakura – 14

**Biofreak  
**By: Shinigami 42-42-564  
…**Chapter Twenty…  
**Tomoyo – [Final]

Of course. The mall. What were we thinking? All of those horror movies, stories, _nothing_ ever comes out good when you go to the mall during some weird end of the world crap. If we were able to have near zombie-like creatures roam our planet, of course we'd have stupid pedophilic bastards in malls too.

Aside from Sakura being nearly raped and molested by that bastard, things didn't turn out as bad as they could. We didn't get shot. The people with guns were just regular people, not soldier-like ones like back in Chiba. They apologized to Sakura and us and kept that bastard away from her.

Story goes that they were just like us—survivors nonetheless. Apparently they've been living here at the mall on the suite and security level, which was exactly where we were headed. With guns surrounding us, and the perv in the way back of the line, we entered an elevator that was blocked with weird metal coatings—like whoever took the time to make the metal wall knew exactly what to expect.

The ride up was silent, but when the doors finally opened, the moment for introduction began right away.

"So this is the cute bunch!" A bit more optimistic sounding than I had wanted, but the woman who said it had short brown to black hair and wore a green and blue shaded kimono. Her smile was elegant, but at the same time very evil looking. "You three are the first survivors we've seen in a long time—well, sort of."

Yukito, Sakura, and I exchanged looks. We didn't quite feel as comfortable with guns still around us.

"Ah, my apologies, please, men, relax these people are friends now—so long as they don't _turn,_ hmm?"

With that said, the man dispersed, all except for two, one seemed like the leader and the other was the bastard.

"Daidouji-san," said the leader-like man. When I took a closer look, I noticed that he had a scar on his left cheek. "Komuro's causing trouble again."

"My-my, Komuro-kun!" Daidouji yelled.

"Y—yes!" Komuro replied with such hesitation and guilt.

As he stepped up, Sakura and I shuffled away.

"He—"

Daidouji raised her hand, stopping the leader from speaking. "It's okay, Gaz, I know exactly what happened." Gaz bowed and passed her. After he disappeared from the scene, Daidouji's attention was fiercely struck on us four. "Komuro, learn to keep your dick in your pants!" she yelled. Such words actually surprised me quite a bit. "Look at the girl! As if she doesn't have enough to worry about with those _things_ out there. You do _one_ more thing to make me think you're going crazy and I'll for sure have you shot this time—if not thrown out and let be killed by those _things_!"

Komuro bowed with fear, "No—I'll be—I mean _please forgive me_!" he pleaded. I seriously wanted him dead though.

"Leave my sight. This'll be the _last_ time I forgive you."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Komuro coward away into another room—literally.

Now that I had the time, I examined the room—or should I say, suite. The walls and lighting made the place glow in orange. There were several long couches and a couple fifty-inch TVs. There was a spiraling stair that lead to another open level with metal gates to prevent a fall, and there was even a kitchen on the floor we were on where that one guy, Gaz, began cooking. A true suite, if I may recall.

"I am _so_ sorry about what happened." said the woman. She bent over and looked at Sakura, "Sweetie, are you alright? I hope my stupid friend—well I don't really like him—didn't hurt you."

Sakura shook her head and bowed. I would've yelled something, but her tone of voice was actually very calming versus when she completely went mad towards Komuro—that bastard.

"I'm fine, D—Daidouji-sama."

Daidouji smiled, "Onee-chan is fine." She then turned to me and said, "Wonderful sweet girl you have." Then she turned to Yukito, "I'm glad you're all safe here. My name is Daidouji Sonomi. Though it's not important now, I'm the owner of this particular mall here in Tokyo."

Yukito bowed, "Nice to meet you. I'm—"

"Tsukishiro Yukito, professor and scientist from Chiba U, yes I know."

Yukito smiled as if being known by a mall owner was an honor. "Li Syaoran," I said to her, "This is Kinomoto Sakura."

"You three seem to be a weird bunch actually; doesn't look like you two are from the same city—much less know each other for at least a month."

"It's a long story," said Yukito.

"I bet it was."

"Mom!" from the back, a girl of Sakura's age came up. Her hair was black and nearly waist long. "Who are they?"

"Survivors," said Sonomi, "This is my daughter, Tomoyo-chan. Sakura-chan, you seem to be the same age as her, why don't you two go play until lunch is ready? It'll give the boys time to tell me wonderful stories I'm sure, and my daughter hasn't played with—much less seen—anyone her age in a while."

Gladly, Sakura smiled and nodded. It was as if she had forgotten me because Tomoyo dragged her off and up the spiral stairs to the upper level. I was actually kind of disappointed that I didn't even get a peck on the cheek from her, but I guess Sakura must've been excited just as much as Tomoyo was to see someone her own age.

We took a seat around an island counter in the kitchen as Gaz was cooking. From the smell, I could tell it was going to be something good. We pretty much did what Sonomi said we would—tell stories. Though I didn't have much to tell, Yukito did. My story was pretty much how Sakura and I traveled to Chiba, but I excluded Funata for some reason—maybe because if I did mention her, it would've made me miss her even more. Yukito, on the other hand, told of how he started to Chiba underground land, the people in it and how it got torn apart. Like me, he excluded one thing—the freak he had.

"So how many of you are there?" he asked.

"About fifteen of us," said Gaz in the back, still cooking. "Most of us—like me—knew Daidouji-san before all of this happened and knew exactly where to go. The others we managed to take in."

"Gaz is an amazing guy," said Sonomi, "Not only can he use a gun, but he can also cook—one of the best there was in Tokyo back in the days. Trent, over there—" Sonomi pointed to a man with blonde hair sitting on a long couch watching the American movie _Dawn of the Dead_, of course, he _would_ be watching a movie about monsters in a mall, "—was a maintenance man from America. He's our guy when it comes to fixing things. Our other marksman expert, Tomoke is sitting by the computers."

She continued naming every one of her group members that lived here. There was a stunt driver, though there was probably no need for that, a martial artist, and a man that was just built to be all muscle. That was all the ones who seemed important at least.

"Please don't mind Komuro," she also added, "He has a sick mind. I honestly didn't know why we took him in—"

"He was a survivor, Daidouji-san," said Gaz.

"Yes, but still . . ."

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

Lunch was absolutely delicious. But after lunch, things got quiet. Most of the people here took naps or cleaned part of the suite while Yukito and I were examining the room we'd be sleeping in for the night. I didn't like how we were moving, really. We moved way too slow. It seemed we'd be walking for only a couple hours at the most and we'd have to spend the remainder of our day indoors somehow. It was really annoying.

"Tomorrow morning we leave." said Yukito.

I didn't hesitate to agree, "I know." This place seemed like a good place to be. Even if that Komuro guy wasn't here, my thoughts about staying here would've been zero for reasons that I couldn't stop stressing—goals in life.

"Also, I would like to add that _they_ are in this mall as well."

My eyes widened, "_They?_" Yukito nodded, "Really? Then why haven't we've encountered any?"

"Before Sakura's incident, when we got separated, I stumbled upon a door that lead to a back garage or parking ramp. The door was sealed off with a metal bar, but through it I could hear them . . . slowly pushing their way in."

"Do you think they know?"

"I don't know—"

"Then we should tell them just to clarify."

The door knocked and instantly I thought it was Sakura, but it wasn't. Instead, Sonomi entered with a somewhat solemn face.

"How is it?" she asked.

"It's fine," replied Yukito. "I thank you very much for this. But I'd like to say that tomorrow morning—"

"Yes, I know. You're leaving." Sonomi broke in like she had just read Yukito's mind. "That's why I came here."

Yukito and I exchanged looks.

"I wanted to ask you guys for a favor."

"Sure, I suppose." said Yukito.

"Please, take my daughter with you."

I've heard of crazy, but this was way off the charts. Take Tomoyo with us? I'm not sure what she was thinking! Did she want Tomoyo to die? Options ran through my head of why she'd ask us this but nothing came up—none that would've made sense anyways . . . unless she seriously was thinking—

"Take Tomoyo-chan with us?" repeated Yukito. "I—"

"Please, hear me out first. Yes, aside from Komuro, it's safe here. But look at this world. I don't think that someone as young as her should stay here with me. There's _nothing_ here. If she goes along with you guys, maybe there's hope. I, myself, would journey for help and hope too, but no one else is willing to leave and I just can't abandon them. Yes, I understand that eventually we'll all turn and die . . . and I know just as well as you do when we die, it _won't_ be because of age. So that's why I ask, please, take her with you. She'll have Sakura—someone her age—as well as your protection, Yukito-san, Syaoran-kun. She _needs_ something to look forward to."

She said more, but it was nothing you haven't already heard from me. Sonomi was thinking exactly like I was. Staying here, there's no goals; a life without anything to live for is just . . . nothing. As much as I'd love to take Tomoyo, I just didn't know if Yukito or I had what it takes to protect her.

"My daughter's young. But like Sakura, she understands the situation clearly." she ended with.

Yukito and I were silent for the next minute. Then after a shuffle, Yukito said, "I can't guarantee her safety and I don't want to take responsibility for someone else's demise."

"Then don't." The door opened again, but this time it was both Sakura and Tomoyo. "I'm old enough to take responsibility for myself." said Tomoyo.

"Syaoran." Sakura came to my side and clutched my arm.

I could see Yukito pondering about whether he should agree or not, "Tomoyo-chan, I'm sure you are . . ." I expected more from Yukito, but that's all he could say.

"Please, sleep on it." said Sonomi. "Come on, Tomoyo-chan, let's get to bed too." Without another word, they bowed and left.

Yukito was in dismay. I knew that he wanted safety first, he wanted Tomoyo to stay here and be safe, but at the same time there was something that helped him sway his decisions . . . maybe it was the freaks in the garage or what-not? That could possibly be the answer too.

Without saying anything to me, Yukito took his bed and began sleeping. I tucked Sakura in and kissed her on the forehead.

"Aren't you coming in too?" she asked seemingly disappointed.

I chuckled low, "You sounded kind of dirty when you said that."

She gave me a look and stuck out her small pink tongue, "Anytime, just not when Yukito-san's around, you perv."

"What do you think about Tomoyo-chan coming with us?" I asked.

Sakura shrugged in her blankets, "I don't mind at all."

I pulled her nose and said, "Try to sleep, I'm going to the bathroom first." After another kiss on the head, I left. The bathroom wasn't quite that hard to find; it was the only door open. After splashing my face, I began to think about what Yukito had said once before. About how people with a max'er capacity brain-waves or whatever. Ten percent . . . the freaks had a measurement more than ten. Just like a superhero that couldn't hold on to his power, they become consumed . . . but then the real question is . . . why am _I_ not one of them? A capacity that's far higher than ten can create physical personas . . . I closed my eyes and this time . . . _he_ wasn't an accident.

"Madness," I called. I turned and immediately saw my reflection without mirror—no . . . Madness . . .

He clapped with his usuall evil smile. "There we go, Syaoran-kun, you got it."

"Why aren't I one of _them_ then?" I asked.

"What do aliens look like?" he asked. I opened my mouth to answer, but he came in again, "Big bulgy head, small body, large black eyes right? Of course, no one really knows."

"Your point is?"

"Why does a _super_ freak have to look like any of them?"

Quickly, I stepped forward and gripped Madness by the collar of his—or my—shirt, "I'm not one of _them_ yet, you _freak_."

Madness shrugged in my grip, "The best _always_ takes time . . . _they're here_ . . ."

My eyes quickly widened. They're here? I dispersed Madness away and charged out the door. I made my way out to the main area where we first entered after exiting the elevator and found Tomoke sitting where he always was, in front of a bunch of computer screens and listening to music.

"T—Tomoke-san." I exclaimed.

He jumped as if he was half asleep, "Uh, yes, Syaoran-san?"

"Is there a camera on the first floor around the garage door that you can get to?"

"You mean the parking ramp? Sure." Tomoke began to fiddle with his computers,

When a screen turned to that video, he zoomed in on the door.

It was half open.

"Hmm, I'll go close it." He said and got up, shouldered his rifle and began making his way to the elevator.

"W—wait, what? No, don't go out there."

"Don't worry; the gate to the parking ramp's been closed ever since it all started, so I doubt there's anything there. I have a rifle, so no biggie, right?"

"But . . . I don't think you should go down there still."

"I'll be back in ten minutes."

Before I could even say anything else he pushed the elevator button. It took about half a minute before the elevator doors opened.

"Hmm . . ." instead of going into the elevator like he was supposed to, he stood and looked as if he didn't know how to operate one. "Someone went down . . ."

"W—what? Like who? Why?"

"I don't know, I didn't see." Jeez, I wonder why. "Most likely Komuro, he always wanders off. But I'll be back then, with him too."

Now he entered and the doors closed behind him.

Immediately I sat down in front of the computers and searched for the camera closest to the elevator. I found it being directly in the center and the camera angle was perfect, a shot angled right at the elevator. The doors opened and I could see Tomoke, on a black and white screen, make his way across the mall with the rifle ready in shooting position the entire time.

_He has a gun, he'll be fine. He has a gun. Their can't be that many of them too._ So I would hope.

I followed him easily, surprisingly. The path he took to the bottom floor was exactly how the cameras screens were lined up. When he finally reached the door, Tomoke began to take even more caution and soon disappeared into the door.

"Wait," I said to myself, "I thought you were just going to close the door and come back—damnit he's looking for whoever went down . . ."

The elevator dinged. I jumped with the most incredible scare ever. I forgot Ketsuui in the room so I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife. _Shit, I was too occupied with Tomoke that I forgot to watch the elevators too_.

When the doors opened, I charged with the kitchen knife in hand, but only to stop with a barrel in my face.

"Woah, kid what the hell is wrong with you?" it was Gaz.

"Y—you—_you_ went down?" I exclaimed.

I lowered the knife and he lowered the gun.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep so I decided to take another last minute surveillance around the mall."

"Did you go to the gar—I mean uhh—parking ramp?"

Gaz looked at me as if wondering why I was panicking. "No . . . why, what's wrong?"

"The door to the parking ramp was open so Tomoke-san went down—just went down."

I was probably the most panicked I've ever been—even more than my first encounter of the things. Because of my tone, Gaz could tell right away that something could go wrong. His expression changed.

"Watch the videos. There's no audio so you won't be able to hear anything. I'll go back down for Tomo—"

Something distracted him. I followed his eyes and saw that he stood his attention towards the surveillance videos. To add to my panic, Madness was right . . . they _were_ here. In one screen, I could see Tomoke running his fastest and shooting behind him with black and white lights blaring. Behind him, a horde of those things, but they look even more crispier than ever.

As Tomoke disappeared from one screen and moved to another, he began to make his way towards the elevator. When he got to it and pressed the button, Gaz started to erupt with fume.

"No, no, no, you fool!" he yelled.

"What?"

"There's too many of them, he'll—" Before he finished, we watched as Tomoke was swarmed by the monsters, crying out screams that we couldn't even hear. Then the worst came and Gaz didn't even need to finish what he had started. The elevator doors on the floor under opened up and about five of them entered in before the doors closed.

"T—they don't know how to push button, do they?" I exclaimed.

_Ding . . ._

Gaz and I turned to the elevator in the room now. "Shit," he said and ran to the elevator. He fired one shot of his rifle into the ceiling, which caused a panic in the entire suite, waking everyone up. But before anyone else was able to come into the main area, the elevator doors opened, and Gaz opened fire. Flurries of bullets flew as four bodies hit the ground. One managed to take on a bullet wound and attack Gaz, but Gaz drew an army knife and swung across the throat of the monster.

As people started to enter the main area again, Sonomi and Tomoyo stood against the fencing on the top level above the spiral stairs.

"What is—" Sonomi began, but stopped as she saw dead bodies. "Impossible!"

Gaz took his firearm and shot the elevator buttons and watched as it sparked, "A true soldier, but his one mistake was reusing the elevators again."

"Who?" Sonomi demanded as everyone else brought out their own assortments of weapons. Even that Komuro guy had at least a pistol.

"Tomoke . . ."

Yukito came in with Sakura with his bag around his back. Sakura quickly came to my side. I explained everyone the what had happened, with a little bit of Gaz' exploits. After everything, we turned our attention to the camera videos.

"Is there any other way up or down?" asked Yukito.

Sonomi nodded, "Of course, the fire exit, but that's the only other way."

"Then I guess we won't be waiting until morning to leave."

"What?" I exclaimed, "You're crazy, it's dark outside!"

"No, he's right," Sonomi broke in. Keeping her eyes on the screens, she continued with, "Sooner or later they'll flood this place. Sooner or later, the stairs will be taken up and they'll be up here. I don't think _later_ is in our favor. So, Yukito-san . . . please."

After a grimace, Yukito said, "Fine. We'll take her."

Tomoyo? In a time like this . . . I looked up to where Sonomi and Tomoyo were, "You're decided during this kind of moment?"

"This moment is the only moment we have."

"Yukito, she's safer here not going out with us."

"And _you're_ missing the point, Syaoran."

I turned away. I knew exactly the reasons, the points; I just didn't want to face them and put someone else's life under my wings, "Fine."

"Let's hurry then." said Sonomi.

"But what about you guys?" asked Sakura. "Will you not come with us? With so many guns and so many people . . ."

Gaz walked over to Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sakura-chan. Our place is here. If we're able to hold up and clear these crazy monsters, then we need to stay for the exact reasons you're here. We need to take other people . . . other _survivors_ in and give them a place to stay if they don't have one."

Sakura nodded. They are noble. I'm glad actually. Without them, even though we barely stayed half a day here, without them we'd probably be dead.

After saying their final good-byes, Sonomi and Gaz lead us, along with Tomoyo, to the emergency staircase. As we were going down, Sonomi started explaining what we should do.

"Since this mall is part of a strip, I'll lead you to the first floor. From there on, go straight until you hit Domo-Kun's shop. There's going to be a door at the back of the shop that'll lead into another shop with an opening to the outside. From there on . . . I'm afraid, since you have your own goals, you're on your own."

Once we reached the bottom, Gaz scanned the area. While he did that, Sakura, Yukito, and I made our last preperations. I had Ketsuui ready and held onto Sakura's hand. Yuktio drew out a pistol, and Tomoyo said one last good-bye to her mother.

"Be sure to not cause them _too_ much trouble now, okay?" Sonomi said.

Tomoyo nodded, "I'll be sure of that."

"Tomoyo-chan knows Tokyo like the back of her hand. If you guys aren't familiar with Tokyo—every street, store, and pitfall—then she'll be glad to help . . . and again, thank you."

Yukito cocked his pistol, "Don't thank us yet. We haven't gotten out yet."

"It's clear," said Gaz. "Here." He handed me his rifle and drew out a pistol from his pocket.

"What are you . . ."

"I'm sure you know how to use one right? Right now, this isn't the situation for a knife."

I nodded and sheathed Ketsuui back. Hopefully I still remembered how to use a gun based on what Funata had taught me that one time.

"Straight ahead," Sonomi pointed out, "You'll see the store. Remember, straight towards the back is a door, here the keys. Through that door is another store that isn't a part of the mall itself. It'll have its own exit to outside."

"I'll try to cover you until you disappear." added Gaz.

I looked at him with dismay, "With a pistol?"

"Gaz is an amazing gunman Syaoran-kun. He's probably better far with a pistol than you are point blank with a rifle." said Sonomi.

I wouldn't doubt that.

"Alright then," Yukito started, "Is everyone ready? Sakura-chan, Syaoran . . . Tomoyo-chan." We all nodded. With that said, we left.

There was no light, so it was as if we were walking straight into an abyss with no protection at all. The only thing that helped was the fact that the Domo-Kun logo was large enough so we were able to see the outline from a fair distance away. Tomoyo had the keys and lead us.

When we heard gunshots from behind us, I immediately knew that it was Gaz protecting us. "Let's hurry!" I yelled and we sped up. We reached the Domo-Kun store and made out way towards the back of the store just like instructed. As Tomoyo was trying to fiddle with the key, I could see a few human-like figures coming through the door. "Damn."

"Syaoran, shoot them. Unlike Gaz, I'm not that good long range with a pistol." said Yukito.

I didn't have the confidence in myself to use a rifle, but if it was to protect Sakura and us, then I had to. I shoulder it but didn't bother looking through the sights; the place was dark enough as it is. I remembered back from my target practice about where to aim. I didn't need a headshot; they weren't zombies, so a body shot would've done fine. I aimed for the one in the middle. If I missed, it would've at least hit one of the other two.

I fired.

The rifle was a single semi-automated gun, so it didn't give me troubling recoil. The one on the left went down and after about five more shots, the two went down. But it wasn't the end, more entered the room. Luckily Tomoyo opened the door and we all rushed in. Just as Tomoyo closed the door and locked it back up, a couple instant bangs from the other side bent the door inwards. Yukito fired a few pistol rounds through the door.

"Come on," he said, "Let's get out of here."

We found the door that lead outside, but really . . . I didn't want to go. If I thought the mall was dark, outside was even darker; and to add to that, it was raining, pouring like it'd flood everything within the next few minutes.

"This is the worst," I said to myself.

"But we have to keep going." said Sakura. "If we don't then they'll break in from the door in the back."

"There's a bridge about a couple miles north of here that we can cross over to the next district," informed Tomoyo, "If we can get there it should give us some time since there's a gate there that's made to block people from getting in or out."

"If it's supposed to block people from getting in or out then how do we know that it'll let us _out_?" I exclaimed.

"It's a risk we'll have to take," said Yukito. "We've got nothing else to lose and I don't know my way clearly around Tokyo in this rain."

"Damnit, fine."

We executed our only plan, sprinted outside into the pouring rain. How we could travel a couple miles without stopping though? I had no idea. In gym class, I was able to run three quarters at the most without stopping. Now I was supposed to run two with the heaviest rain ever. But maybe, just maybe the adrenaline from those _things_ would help.

The sound of howling screams echoed through the night and rain. I didn't realize it now, but when I looked in front of me to Tomoyo, I noticed that she had a small kimono-type dress on. She was running in something like that? It was like she was asking for a death wish. I realized that I had lost my focus when I heard Yukito shooting his pistol. Sakura, Tomoyo, and I stopped and watched as four of the monsters fell after eight shots. Then Yukito cursed and dropped his pistol.

"I'm out," he said, "Let's run!"

We continued through the rain. Nothing stopped _them_ though. Again, I heard the echoes of a frightening cry. But this time, it made me jump to the point where I stumbled against my own feet and fell hard chest-first into the rough ground.

"Syaoran!" Sakura called.

I was losing it. The rifle was several steps backwards. I tried to make my way towards it so I could pick it up, but my ankle fell under me. I wasn't sure if it was broken, sprained, or maybe just twisted the wrong way, but it started to hurt. As a figure through the rain got frantically closer, I closed my eyes and embraced myself for the worst. I was a sitting duck. But then I felt a wind pass me, and when I opened my eyes, it was Sakura standing in front of me with the rifle in _her_ hands out far from her chest. She didn't shoulder it, but she fired it. The figure that charged dropped to the ground, but so did Sakura after a harsh scream. She fell to her knees and gripped her shoulder. Just as she had fallen, Yukito ran up and grabbed the rifle and began shooting as the shadowy figures got closer. One by one they dropped before I was even able to see them clearly. How Yukito saw them in this rain I had no idea. Maybe it was instincts?

When the rifle made clicking noises, Yukito cursed. One _freak_ charged with its arms out forward like a zombie and attacked Yukito. Yukito held the rifle in front of him and fought back, trying to it off. After stumbling back, I thought Yukito . . . I thought _we_ were goners, but then a sounding rifle shot went off and the freak that attacked Yukito fell to the ground. That wasn't the end of it though. As the _things_ got close to us, they began to fall down one by one. Someone was shooting them, but it wasn't any of us.

After about fifteen more bodies dropping in front of us like some miracle just happened, another figure began to come out from the darkness of the rain. But this one didn't charge. Instead, the _it_ was a _he_ and he stood tall and firm; rifle in hand and had just reloaded. As he got closer, my lips curved into a smile.

"Takashi-san!" I cried.

"Takashi . . . it's you." Yukito was just as surprised to see him as I was.

"No time to be reacquainted now, help the girl. I'll hold off for now." He said.

As Takashi stood his attention to the front again, he fired endlessly as even more came at us, and Yukito aided Sakura by picking her up with both his arms. She screamed in pain, but there was nothing else that we could've done.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, but please endure the pain for now." He said.

Sakura nodded, "It's okay."

"Come on!" yelled Tomoyo, "The bridge!" She began running ahead. Yukito followed right after.

"Takashi-san!" I yelled, "Let's go!" I got up and started limping back.

After a quick reload, Takashi turned back and aided me. "Can't believe you guys made it this far!" he said with a bit of joy in his tone.

Honestly, even though this was the most wrong time to feel happy, I was happy to see him, "I can't believe _you_ made it!"

"Please, it takes more than a bunch of them to take me down!" After a few blocks, we managed to catch back up with Yukito and Tomoyo. "Yukito-san let me carry the girl. I'm faster and you can take the rifle."

The trade was accepted. Sakura may have squirmed in pain but we moved a lot faster.

"Syaoran-san, do you need help?" asked Tomoyo.

I shook my head, "No, I'll be fine, let's just go."

Yukito fired back a few times, but still kept with us. Eventually we ran into a line of broken down cars like someone had lined them up on purpose.

"Jump over!" Tomoyo yelled.

Takashi jumped over with Sakura and just as I helped Tomoyo get over, her dress-type kimono got stuck on a rusted fender. Yukito stood on the other side and continued shooting. He then reloaded and said, "Last clip? Takashi!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it is." He replied.

Yukito cursed.

"S—Syaoran, help." Tomoyo called. I took out Ketsuui and said,

"Please, don't think wrong of me." I cut nearly one leg side off, revealing nearly her entire left leg. "More mobility anyways."

Tomoyo shook her head, "No, it's okay."

We continued north after Yukito made his way over the cars. But just as we were cleared, Takashi yelled, "Stop!" and held one arm out, still holding Sakura.

"What is it?" Tomoyo asked.

"The bridge is gone!"

"What?" the rest of us yelled.

Tomoyo and I walked as far up as we could until we saw ripples in the ground. From that point on was a fall towards death into a fierce rainy river. I couldn't see the river, but even through the rain, I could hear it perfectly, thrashing the sound of death.

I turned to Tomoyo, furious, "You said we could cross! What happened to knowing Tokyo like the back of your hand?" My anger grew a lot more than I had wanted once again.

Tomoyo hesitated to answer, "I—I thought it was still up! I guess they blew it down when things got out of hand."

"You _guess?"_ I screamed.

"Syaoran, hush." said Yukito. I turned to him. "Takashi, I only have six shots left."

After a moment of hearing the rain bat down on us, Takashi finally said, "Use them wisely then."

After one shot, one fell.

After two more shots, two more fell.

It took two this time to take down just one.

And as another one charged, Yukito took aim. He lowered the rifle after seeing nearly a horde of them behind the one he took aim at. His expression was just like mine—_what was the point?_

How are we going to get through this now? One more bullet won't be able to kill all of them. I dropped to my knees and began crying. Everything we went through, everything I tried for . . . it all ended like this, without even the option to survive anymore? What else could have happened? What else could we do? Trapped between a drop to death and a horde of freaks.

After the last and final shot, the one charging fell, but the hundreds of others behind it kept on coming. I grabbed Ketsuui and held it as tight as I could.

"_You freaks . . ."_ This time, _I_ charged.

"Syaoran, wait!" Yukito yelled, but I didn't listen.

"Syaoran!" Sakura, too, cried my name. But even if I wanted to, it was too late to turn back now.

Sakura got hurt trying to protect me, Yukito protected me, Takashi came back from the _dead_ and protected me, even Tomoyo tried to get us out of here alive . . . what have I done? _Nothing_.

"Die!" I screamed. Just as I was about to encounter the first _freak_ that came at us, I saw a flurry of red, orange, and yellow flare into the sky. It brightened the day for a split second and a supersonic-type sound flushed into the air. I could feel extreme heat blast in front of me and I suddenly found myself being thrown back as the cars flew into the air. Something had blown up? Whatever it was it was enough to destroy everything that was in front of me. Blood splattered everywhere and the _freaks_ were ripped apart and caught on fire.

As I collided with the floor, the first thing I felt was hitting my head hard against wet cement. My eyes closed and I couldn't open them even if I wanted. I was thoughtless, motionless, and couldn't see anything. I felt the rain pelt against my face like thousands of little sharp needles. They hurt, but I couldn't do anything about it.

"Syaoran!" I heard my name being screamed. Then before I blacked out, I heard Sakura screaming a name that sounded familiar.

"Funata-neechan!"

**B I O—**_**FREAK**_

When I opened my eyes, I was in a bright room. The walls seemed to have been illuminated in some sort of neon-green type color. I felt myself being held with one arm by someone small.

"Syaoran, you're awake!" I heard.

I sat up from my laying position and turned my head around. An amber-light-brown short-haired girl with glowing green eyes looked at me with a smile. She was in a sling in one arm, but seemed to be fine.

"And the hero awakes," another voice said, this time a woman's. I turned to her. She stood tall with long hair. A brusque but friendly smile crossed her face, "It's only been a few days, who would've known we'd meet up again this soon." She said.

"Onee-chan saved us on the bridge. She planted bombs in the cars just in case since she was stuck in Tokyo too."

"Glad you're okay, kid." Another voice said. I turned again and a man with a large lean body, strapped with a rifle, smiled at me. To his side was a girl with long black hair with half a skirt and a nerdy man with wide circular glasses and a backpack to his side. "Sakura dislocated her shoulder again, but we managed to pop it back in. She'll be fine for now too."

"W—where am I?" I asked.

The girl with green eyes smiled and said, "We're in a locked room down in the Tokyo Subway Sta—"

"I'm sorry," I broke in, "But . . . I actually meant . . . _who_ are you guys?"

The room got quiet, as if it wasn't quiet enough already; and the frivolous smile that crossed that cute little girl's face faded instantly.

* * *

Sequal to Biofreaks will be - "**_Through Hope and Sanity"_**_ - The conclusion to how it all ends, is how it all began._

_June 4th, 2011_


End file.
